Bonnie Twitty
Barcelona separated 1-1 with Seville in the match to catch up with the Spanish League. The Blaugrana were the top team for extended periods, but despite excelling in the final stages, it was only enough to draw with the runners-up. Sevilla really can’t bridge the gap with Real Madrid.
No winners in Seville rain: FC Sevilla and Barcelona parted 1:1.
imago photos / EFE . Agency
After beating defending champions Atlético Madrid – their third consecutive league win – and finishing second, Sevilla were little favorites in a catch-up match with troubled FC Barcelona.
From the outset, Julen Lopetegui put ex-Bundesliga Legion Rekik, Delaney and Rakitic into the only real Real Madrid stalker, Barcelona coach Xavi, as in the 3-2 win over Elche at the weekend, he relied mainly on young talents such as Abde or Gutgla.
The Blaugrana dominated the first half of the hour in torrential Seville rain and had the shooting stats 9-0, but only de Jong’s header caused little danger (15).
Gomez surprises Blaugrana – Araujo leads the equalizer
Sevilla coach Lopetegui walked along the touchline and was not satisfied with the passive game of his companions until the 32nd minute. Then Barcelona’s defense overlooked the incoming Gomez at a corner, who completed a low cross into the far corner – Ter Stegen was weak (32).
This means that the hosts were on target for the time being, despite their poor performance. But even La Liga’s best defense (at this point twelve goals against him) defended carelessly shortly before the break and let Araujo go, who pressed Dembele’s corner kick into the net in perfect fashion to equalize (45).
Conde loses his temper – Barcelona have big extra chances
In the second round, both teams found it more difficult to attack, Barcelona no longer pressured that early and barely moved forward, and Sevilla continued to be dangerous only after the standards. The match was completely unremarkable, but suddenly received a warm note when Conde lost his temper after a small roar from Jordi Albus, threw the ball in the face of the left-back and thus flew off the field (64).
After that it got hotter, but Barca rarely faced off against Sevilla goalkeeper Bono. That suddenly changed when Gavi climbed into a header after Abde’s cross, but he lacked accuracy (81). Barcelona increased the pressure, a little later Dembele hit the post (85), but the goal did not want to fall after that.
Goals and cards
1: 0Gomez (32′, right-footed shot)
1: 1i want (45′, head)
FC Sevilla
Barcelona
referee team
game info
Stadium
Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan
Barcelona missed the win and jumped to a place in the Champions League, but showed a clear improvement under Xavi and held out to second place in the table. Seville failed to get three points from Real Madrid. That was for both teams in 2021. But the new year will immediately go on: Cup winners Barcelona will visit Mallorca on January 2, and Seville will travel to Cadiz the next day.
Laurence Malcom
