La Liga
Barcelona Defeat Sevilla In Thriller To Top La Liga
Barcelona moved to the top of La Liga after defeating Sevilla in a six goal thriller at the Nou Camp.
Goals from Philippe Coutinho, Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and Ivan Rakitic helped secure all three points.
Sevilla rallied in the second half but goals from Paolo Sarabia and Luis Muriel proved to be only consolation.
Barcelona’s victory was marred due to an injury to Lionel Messi.
The Argentine landed awkwardly on his right arm after a coming together.
He was taken off shortly afterwards and Barcelona’s fans will be hoping it isn’t broken.
However, he is a big doubt ahead of next week’s El Clasico.
Barca’s Bright Start
Barcelona got off to the perfect start taking the lead after just two minutes.
Right-back Nelson Semedo drove forward and laid the ball to Messi.
The Argentine played a brilliant ball to Coutinho who superbly curled the ball high into the net.
Sevilla were almost level minutes later. Adrien Silva played the ball out wide to Guilherme Arana who had acres of space.
He unleashed a great shot from just outside the box, but it struck the base of the post with Marc-Andre ter Stegen in the Barcelona goal beaten.
After 12 minutes Barca doubled their lead. A great pass from Luis Suarez found Messi. He drove forward and curled a trademark left foot shot into the net.
Midway through the first half there was a coming together between Lionel Messi and Franco Vazquez.
Messi landed heavily on his right arm and was immediately in discomfort.
After lengthy treatment, which saw his arm being bandaged, the Barcelona medics deemed that he couldn’t continue.
Sevilla’s best chance of the first half fell to Pablo Sarabia. Jesus Navas crossed the ball into the box, Sarabia stuck his foot out but couldn’t divert it on target.
Great Advert For La Liga
The second half was a fantastic spectacle of attacking football and was a great advert for La Liga.
Both sides had numerous chances. On the hour mark Sevilla were left wondering how they didn’t half their deficit.
A great cross by Jesus Navas found Adrien Silva, his header looked destined to find the net but somehow ter Stegen clawed the ball away.
The rebound fell to Vazquez but once again ter Stegen was able to parry it away for a brilliant double save.
Just two minutes later Barcelona made it three. A long ball over the top set Luis Suarez in on goal.
The Uruguayan was brought down inside the penalty area by Sevilla keeper Tomas Vaclik. Up stepped Suarez who sent the keeper the wrong way.
Sevilla to their credit kept going and got a goal back with 11 minutes remaining.
A hopeful shot by Sarabia from 25 yards out was deflected off Clement Lenglet and flew into the net with ter Stegen rooted to the spot.
They almost got another goal back with five minutes to go. A shot by Sarabia was brilliantly saved by ter Stegen. The rebound fell to Wissam Ben Yedder but the German goalkeeper again denied him with a flying save.
Ter Stegen’s performance further strengthens his claim to be Germany’s number one goalkeeper on current form.
Three minutes later Barcelona made it four when Ivan Rakitic unleashed a great volley from just outside the box against his former side.
In injury time Sevilla pulled another goal back when Luis Muriel brilliantly curled a great shot past ter Stegen.
It capped off a fantastic second half with two sides playing with attacking intent.
Messi’s Injury Big Worry For Barcelona
The big downside to Barcelona’s victory is obviously the injury to Lionel Messi.
They will be hoping it is not a break and won’t lead to him being out for the next few weeks or even months.
He is likely to miss El Clasico next week and his influence will be a big miss.
Barcelona have great players and are not necessarily a one man team.
But Messi’s influence is obvious. He was involved in both Barcelona’s opening two goals, scoring one and assisting another.
His replacement Ousmane Dembele is a great talent and is a totally different player to Messi.
However, there were occasions when the Frenchman got himself in some great positions but didn’t have the composure to get his head up and set up a team mate.
Also, he doesn’t have the same understanding that Luis Suarez and Lionel Messi have.
No Messi will change how Barcelona attack and it will be interesting to see whether Dembele can step up to the plate if called upon.
Sevilla’s Awful Record At The Nou Camp Continues
Sevilla would have had high hopes after a fine start to the season. But the defeat maintained their awful record at the Nou Camp where they haven’t won in La Liga since 2002.
They got off to a poor start and not many teams concede two goals inside 12 minutes at the Nou Camp and come away with anything.
They looked nervous at the start but to their credit did get better and looked a threat going forward.
Had it not been for ter Stegen’s heroics in the Barcelona goal, they might have escaped with a point.
Sevilla boss Pablo Machin gave it a good go and has made Sevilla one of the most exciting teams to watch this season.
He will be disappointed with the start they made but will take plenty of positives from the game.
They showed they have more than enough to challenge for a Champions League spot this season.
It will be a tough ask though to keep pace with the likes of Barcelona throughout the rest of the season.
Next up they face Turkish side Akhisar at home in the Europa League.
Meanwhile, Barcelona face Inter at the Nou Camp in the Champions League.
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Photo credit to Barcelona via Twitter
