Barcelona miss the chance to return to the LaLiga summit, as Sevilla turn the tide on a dismal decade against the Blaugrana.
Running out 4-1 winners at an emotional Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan, this win arrives as the first against Barca since October 2015. Sevilla had been suffering a 19-match winless run against their visitors before today, yet the Rojiblancos were excellent and undeterred from the start.
Sanchez opened the scoring from the spot in the 13th minute, after the referee’s glance at the monitor saw Romero wrestled down by Araujo. The second goal arrived in the 36th minute after Szczesny proved undoubtedly the busier of the two keepers.
He could do nothing to stop Romero tapping in after Kounde was dispossessed and Vargas crossed from the left.
Rashford nicked one back in a lengthy stoppage with a decent volley from a beautiful Pedri pass. Yet, despite hints of a comeback, Lewandowski’s missed penalty felt like a sign of changing fortunes, and the hosts pushed on in typical counter-attacking glory.
In the 90th minute, Vlachodimos saved well from Bardghji, before Agoume slid in Carmona to drill low into the bottom left. The euphoria was overflowing as Barcelona continued to throw everyone forward, with Adams making it 4-1 to end another damning fastbreak.
It is clear that teams have found a way to break the Barcelona high line and we could see more teams do damage to this setup.
