Barcelona 2-1 Sevilla - 5 Talking Points

#2 Sevilla were punished for being reactive

Reactive, not proactive!

More often than not, in the world of football, the difference between 3 points, a point and none is how well a team is set up to counter the challenges that it will face in the 90 or so minutes spent on the football pitch.

Sevilla, at least for the better part of the first half, were too reactive - rather than being proactive - and this allowed the Barcelona players, especially Lionel Messi, to get into their stride and cause all sorts of trouble.

Eduardo Berizzo's side had the perfect ploy to stretch the Catalan giants' defence and make things uncomfortable for Valverde's side, but it was the application of this plan, which was mostly in patches, that ended up costing the Seville outfit a few valuable points.

The Andalusian side had pace in attack coupled with strength and dynamism in midfield, a combination which has worked wonders against Barcelona in the past, but it was the reactive nature of their football which proved to be their undoing.

On another day, had Sevilla been a little more proactive in their approach, things could have been very different. And this sets us up for a very exciting reverse fixture at the home of the Seville outfit in the second half of the season.