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Spanish giants Barcelona advanced to their ninth straight Copa del Rey semi-finals earlier on Thursday, 31st January, thrashing opponents Sevilla by the massive scoreline of 6-1, in the game that was held at Camp Nou. In the previous away leg of the two-way fixture, the Catalans had participated with very few key players in their squad and thereby had ended up with a shock 0-2 loss. They hence needed at least a three-goal win in the home leg to stay alive in the competition, and duly delivered that and more in style.
Philippe Coutinho scored twice and Ivan Rakitic, Sergi Roberto, Luis Suarez and the man himself - Lionel Messi - contributed one each to the scoresheets. A single strike from Guilherme Arana gave Sevilla their sole consolation at Barcelona's hunting grounds.
The Blaugranas' hunt began in the 13th minute itself, as under-fire Coutinho scored off the penalty spot. Barca's goalkeeper Jasper Cillessen went on to save a given penalty later on, denying any further chance for Sevilla to advance further. In the 31st minute came Barca's second, as Arthur Melo set up a shot for Ivan Rakitic to tuck into the goal. The first half thus ended with the aggregate score of 2-2, Barcelona thus having nullified Sevilla's first-leg goals in the first 45 minutes itself.
The home side went on to shock Sevilla twice in two minutes as Coutinho first nodded a Suarez' cross into the goal in the 53rd minute, and then Messi finding a free Roberto and dispatching the ball right away, the latter promptly scoring - in the very next minute. A two-goal lead to the aggregates brought in some complacency as Sevilla's Ever Banega fired off an assist to Arana. The reply goal from them killed off any rising laziness among the hosts, as they promptly played with better caution since.
The last two goals came in the dying moments of the game, as Suarez and Messi, along with help from Jordi Alba - three of the most fitting men in the side - completed the win in style. Barcelona thus won the game 6-1 and the overall fixture by 6-3.
Here are the five talking points from the game.
#1 The Camp Nou is Barca's property like no other
No footballing side in the world will ever dominate their home games, as the Barcelona side right now. Top teams across any footballing league may be strong and skilled as they like, but it would still take several exponentiations of superhuman-slash-otherworldly efforts to even draw a game at Barca's home turf.
At this point, let me remind the readers how coach Ernesto Valverde spoke, after their loss at Seville. A loss by two goals, that too without even scoring a single away goal that could have proven vital, and yet Valverde was unfazed as he spoke. He was already looking forward to the game at Camp Nou where he believed the real game would happen. And how.
Barcelona loyalists would immediately be thrown back in time to a similar night from nearly two years ago when the first away-leg away defeat was even worse, and the ultimate prize was a hundred times worthier too. The Remontada, as fans now come to know of it, happened as Barcelona did the unthinkable by overcoming a 0-4 away loss against French giants Paris Saint Germain (PSG) in the Champions League Quarter-finals, with a similar 6-1 win on their Camp Nou return. Suarez, Messi, Alba, Rakitic and Roberto were present on that fateful night as well, one of the side's best nights in recent years.
In the ongoing season as well, Barcelona have recorded just one home defeat in the La Liga, while they were unbeaten at home in the whole of last season. Quite memorably, Camp Nou also witnessed a 5-1 thrashing of arch-rivals Real Madrid in the La Liga this season, on 28th October 2018.
#2 The rise of Arthur Melo
The Brazilian midfield Arthur, who arrived from Gremio at the start of the ongoing season, has not even completed six months in the Blaugrana colours, but is already looking as if he has been owning them all his life.
In addition, he wears the No.8, which in itself is a huge responsibility - given the colossal image of the man who wore it until the last season, "Don" Andres Iniesta himself. Iniesta along with his erstwhile compatriot Xavi Hernandez wove together some of the most glorious success stories at the club, and will forever remain as legends as a result of their contributions towards the game in general, and Barcelona in particular.
When Iniesta left at the end of last season so as to retire whilst playing in more relaxing pastures, a huge shadow of doubt was cast on Barca's midfielders, as to who would fill the huge void. In came Arthur, and just like that, has gone on to become a regular starter under Valverde. Though the number in the back represents his succeeding Iniesta, Arthur's playing style is more reminiscent of Xavi's.
In this game as well, Arthur evoked his inner Xavi on numerous occasions. The most remembered one will, however, be when he delivered a cheat-code of a long pass to Ivan Rakitic, to tuck the ball in and extend the lead. Arthur simply found the perfect line to dispatch the ball, and delivered with panache, outpacing 8 Sevilla players. Check out the video for yourself (the pass can be seen from around the 1:39 mark):
Can passing get any more outrageous and sublime as this?
Arthur is definitely destined to reach great heights, and hopefully will play a vital role as Messi and his cohorts continue to script history with Barca.
#3 A brief halt to Valverde's ever-rotating squad policy
One of Ernesto Valverde's crazy weaknesses is his never-changing tendency to keep rotating squads as fixtures line up one by one. While it has had its own benefits as crucial players get ample rest in between tight contests, it has also brought in its own share of some slight controversies as well.
For example, in the last season, Barcelona would have gone on to replicate Arsenal's marauding "Invincibles" run in the 2003-'04 season and had even finished more than six months without a single loss. Pat came Valverde's plan to rest most of the first team's players and even some of the bench options, as Barcelona fell to a nagging 1-0 defeat against Espanyol. It was their only loss in the whole season at the Spanish League.
A similar issue copped up at Sevilla a week earlier as all of a sudden, Valverde took the controversial decision of benching Messi and Suarez, in their vital away clash in the Copa del Rey. And they duly lost too, adding fuel to the fire. Had Barcelona lost today, the coach's position would certainly have been threatened, despite already being announced that he will be staying for longer.
Messi, Suarez, Coutinho, Busquets - all of them played in the return leg. With that win, Valverde will also banish any further negative questions on his influence in the club. What remains to be known, is only whether his idea of resting key players will continue as the season progresses. If the reader is a supporter of the club and is privy to how the club functions under Valverde, I think you are probably aware of the answer already.
#4 The star man, as always: Lionel Messi
The GOAT was at his sparkling best yet again. If you'll all remember Sevilla's tweet from earlier this week, in compliance with the #ThingsIWouldBan movement that has been viral across the sporting world:
Lionel Messi simply went on to showcase how right Sevilla was, in being wary about him, going about his routines of outlandish passing with some exquisite touches - the most noted of those being the assist for Sergi Roberto's goal when he took out three defenders with a ridiculous through-pass.
In the dying seconds of the game, Jordi Alba, Luis Suarez and the man himself successfully finished off two quick counterattacks, the first of a Sevilla corner and the next off a Sevilla freekick. The Argentine also managed to get his name on the scoresheet, thereby scribbling his own signature on the game before proclaiming it as "done and dusted", as Martin Tyler would have loved to call it.
Watch the final goal here:
#5 A hopeful end-of-bad-days for Philippe Coutinho
All has not been well with the former Liverpool starlet over the last many weeks in Barcelona colours. Coutinho seemed to lose confidence over the ball with each passing day, and fans also started forgetting how well he used to come from left wide and then cut into fore a shot that usually pierces the top-right corner of the goal. Coutinho's starting position was further threatened, as Ousmane Dembele started outshining almost every other player in the club, with his pacy runs, street-smart technique and scoring the occasional belter.
There even have been calls for the management to replace the Brazilian, as it was rumoured that sides like PSG even readied up offers provided Barca was ready to offload him. It was amidst such circumstances that Valverde gave Coutinho the chance to start in the home fixture against Seville, and boy will he be glad that happened.
Barcelona got a penalty as early as the thirteenth minute as Sevilla's Promes foolishly tapped Messi in the ankle to bring him down inside the box. As the referee pointed to the spot, all eyes shifted to Messi who is the penalty-taker by default, but he simply threw the ball to Coutinho and asked him to take the chance instead. The goal was scored, and it probably may have been the break of what has been an excruciating phase for the winger/attacking midfielder. Within a few minutes of second-half kicking in, Coutinho nodded a Pique cross into the net to give Barca the overall advantage, also doubling his name on the scoresheet.
In addition to the goals, Coutinho was also a very valuable member of Barcelona's attacks, and for the first time in a few weeks, emerged as one of the better players on the pitch. Hopefully, it is an end of them dreary days for the star, who memorably opened his own wallet to shell out €9 million, to facilitate his transfer to Barca - such was his dream of once playing in the iconic maroon-and-blue.
