Copa Del Rey 2018/19, Barcelona 6-1 Sevilla: 5 Talking Points

Barcelona crushed Sevilla 6-1 at the Camp Nou to wipe out the two-goal deficit from the first leg and canter into a ninth consecutive Copa Del Rey semi-finals.

Philippe Coutinho bagged a brace, as Ivan Rakitic, Sergi Roberto, Luis Suarez and Lionel Messi too all got on the scoresheet in a second-half blitzkrieg that completely eclipsed Arana Lopes' spectacular volley which was the only consolation for Sevilla.

The Andalusian outfit were rigid and robust in the first-half - although Ever Banega's penalty miss was an outlier event- but lost the plot completely after the break, letting the hosts strike four times in that period and blow the first-leg advantage out of water.

Sevilla must be kicking themselves for letting such an opportunity pass, whereas Barcelona can now smell a fifth consecutive League Cup. Here are the major talking points.

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#1 Barcelona do what's written on the tin

Sevilla must have envisaged this coming ..

This was never in doubt, was it? The Blaugrana, after a poor first-leg in Seville, knew they had to respond resoundingly to avoid a humiliating cup exit. And respond resoundingly they did, taking the game to the visitors with a fast start.

Manager Ernesto Valverde played his strongest line-up - as expected - and Barcelona wasted no time in taking the initiative. With Rakitic and Arthur manning the midfield with a string of passes, Messi ran the show upfront with his buccaneering runs, also letting Suarez and Coutinho trouble the Sevilla defense no end.

The result was a penalty early on, which the Brazilian duly converted, before Rakitic caught the visitors cold and tapped home the easiest of finishes. Sevilla's two-goal lead was turned to dust inside 45 minutes, and knew they are in for a long second-half as Barcelona completely annihilate the game after the break.

#2 Sevilla were all over the place after the break

Arana's volley was the only consolation for Sevilla

Despite being on the backfoot, the Nervionenses did produce a few edgy moments on the counter whilst also holding things tight at the back. However, it all tail-spinned into turmoil after the break as the hosts cut a swathe through them hook, line and sinker.

Barcelona held a lion's share of possession and pushed bodies forward so as to get the ball to Messi. The Argentine was at his supreme, piercing through the heart of Sevilla with magical runs and precise layoffs. Some poor man-marking and defensive lapses aided their cause.

Coutinho was let a free run at Suarez's cross for his second, before Roberto too, darted inside the area unchallenged and latched on to Messi's superb defence-splitting pass. Sevilla virtually had no answer to Barcelona's blistering interplay and crumbled goal by goal.

A potential shocker turned into a shellacking.

#3 That sixth goal though..

Messi caps off a wonderful evening with a wonderful goal

Most of the strikes in the goal-fest were pretty easy finishes. Of course, Arana Lopes' zinger of a volley was one of the best moments, but Barcelona's sixth goal of the evening takes the cake.

It had all the ingredients of crisp crossing, precise passing, neat one-twos, eye-catching dummy and a nonchalant finish: As Barcelona break on the counter, Arturo Vidal released Suarez who scythed into the area to lay off for Pique, who then backpassed it to him. The Uruguayan then laid it back which Jordi Alba dummied into the path of Messi, who then took a touch and unmistakably rounded off the rout with a gentle finish.

The technique, the vision, the movement, the communication and of course, the finish - everything involved to produce this goal was of the finest quality; a pure Barcelona-esque goal, literally rolling back the years to Pep Guardiola's tiki-taka days.

#4 Sevilla's forwards fail to fire

Contrary to the first-leg which witnessed a fearsome attacking intent from Sevilla and the likes of Ever Banega and Pablo Sarabia in top form to put Barcelona to the sword, this attacking flair went for a toss in the decisive leg. Especially in the second half, when the visitors spent the majority of it on the backfoot.

Sevilla's best counter-attacking moments left a lot to be desired in the finishing but even they were few and far between. Their attacking moves ran into a stonewall everytime they edged in or around the area.

Banega, the architect of the famous win last week, delivered the first blow by fluffing a penalty early on. He was then completely run over by the Barcelona midfield which rendered him ineffective. However, he did well to pick out Lopes for their only goal of the night. With Pablo Sarabia in no man's land, Andre Silva was starved of service and cut a lonely figure upfront.

The only shot that the Rojiblancos managed to get on target in the second 45 was Lopes' superb volley, but it was buried under the deluge at the opposite end.

#5 Coutinho's time at Barcelona may not be finished after all

Who says Coutinho is finished at Barcelona?

Barcelona's €120 million signing Philippe Coutinho had been struggling of late. Not only was he used sparingly by Valverde - he has started only 12 league games out of 24 this season - but had also looked out of sorts in most of his appearances.

In the recent days, reports of his struggles and another possible miscalculated move by the Catalans, had been doing the rounds. But with a brace on the night, Coutinho showed all's not over yet. He nicely placed the penalty into the bottom corner that Messi allowed him to have a go at. But his second goal was down to his pure predatory instincts.

The former Liverpool star sneakily got in between Sevilla's lines and connected well to Suarez's cross to head home a fine goal.

For all the talks of struggles and his unconvincing spell, Coutinho is now at eight goals and five assists for the season. He looked sharp on the night and would certainly add plenty more between now and May.

Edited by Abhinav Munshi