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Sevilla and Barcelona went into this game with both the teams desperate for a victory. Barcelona were hoping to win and take the top position in the La Liga table. Sevilla, who had been struggling in the bottom half, were hopeful to climb up the table.
The first half was a fair battle with both teams having almost the same number of shots. Sevilla had seven shots while Barca had eight. But, only one of those shots were on target for Barca.
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Barca were not able to maintain their usual high rate of possession, having only 57% of the ball. Sevilla were happy to sit back and wait to counter against a weakened Barca side.
Claudio Bravo kept Barca in the game in the 11th minute when he made a great save from Kevin Gameiro’s header. Few minutes later in the 14th minute, Neymar did very well to lay a pass off to Suarez, who might have delayed his shot allowing a defender to block his shot.
Marco Andreolli’s foul in the 22nd minute led to a free kick just outside the box for Barca. Neymar sent a peach of a free-kick which struck the post sparing Andreolli’s blushes. Barca came close again in the 38th minute when Suarez struck the crossbar from a brilliant cross by Munir El Haddadi.
Sevilla rejuvenated after the break
In the second half, Sevilla were more effective with their attacking and came close to scoring in the 51st minute when Michael Krohn-Dehli came close to scoring when he missed the left post by a whisker.
Sevilla’s attacking intents were rewarded in the very next minute when Gameiro made a brilliant run and sent in an even better ball into the box which Krohn-Dehli finished with aplomb.
Sevilla continued their assault on the Barca defence for the next five minutes and they doubled their lead through the brilliant Krohn-Dehli when he sent a dangerous cross into the box which was met with the slightest of touches by Vicente Iborra’s head giving Claudio Bravo no chance to save.
Jeremy Mathieu was at fault for the second goal and thus was immediately replaced with Dani Alves. El Haddadi was also brought off and striker Sandro Ramirez was brought on to create some impact.
Barca’s best player in the match was Neymar, who was probably thriving in the absence of Barca stalwarts Messi and Iniesta and he continued to make promising attacks, which were thwarted by the Sevilla defenders, Sergio Rico who made some brilliant saves, and the post once again in the 65th minute.
Barca’s persistence finally paid off leading to Benoit Tremoulinas handling the ball inside the penalty area. Neymar deservedly got his name on the goal sheet with a well-placed penalty in the 74th minute to make it 2-1. Sandro Ramirez hit the post again, the fourth time in the match for Barca, five minutes later after a good pass played by Suarez.
Sevilla held on to the lead for the last ten minutes with a lot of credit due to the Sevilla keeper, Sergio Rico, who recently got called up to the Spain national squad.
This was the first time that Sevilla won against Barca since 2007. The 2-1 result has now lifted Sevilla from the 16th position into the top 10 of the table. Barca miss a golden opportunity to go on top of the table with this loss.
Watch the highlights of the match here:
