Sevilla 2-4 Barcelona: 3 things we learned

#3 Barca went all out in the second half and the Sevilla defence crumbled

Luis Suarez

Barca took off Arturo Vidal and introduced Dembele in the second half to make their intentions very clear. Dembele’s inclusion meant that they had four genuine attacking players on the pitch. Philippe Coutinho also put in a better display in the second half and created some moves through the left flank.

However, it boiled down to Messi’s brilliance in the end, as he tormented the Sevilla defence almost single-handedly. Sevilla committed the mistake of trying to match Barca’s pace instead of slowing the game down at times. They should have slowed the tempo of the game by playing more passes and holding on to the ball for longer durations in order to disrupt Barca’s flow.

Sevilla’s defenders like Simon Kjaer found it almost impossible to deal with Messi’s skills and pace. Moreover, they tried to play Suarez offside by playing a high line in the dying minutes of the match, but failed in their pursuit, as the Uruguayan striker beat the offside trap to finish neatly with a sublime chip over the goalkeeper. It was his 17th goal of the season, and would give him some much-needed confidence.