The match ends with Barcelona victorious by the finest of margins! After Sevilla looked increasingly likely to score throughout the second period.
Barca piled on the pressure in the last 20 minutes and finally broke the deadlock via Pedri’s excellent finish.
After that, the game became scrappy, with chances, fouls, and cards for both teams as the referee fought for control, but Barca held on for a sixth successive victory to go second in the table.
Starting Lineup:
BARCELONA (4-3-3): Marc-Andre ter Stegen;
Dani Alves, Ronald Araujo, Gerard Pique, Jordi Alba;
Frenkie de Jong, Sergio Busquets, Pedri;
Ousmane Dembele, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Ferran Torres.
BARCELONA SUBS: Neto, Lazar Carevic, Riqui Puig, Memphis Depay, Adama Traore, Martin Braithwaite, Nico Gonzalez, Clement Lenglet, Oscar Mingueza, Eric Garcia, Pablo Gaviria.
SEVILLA (4-3-3): Yassine Bounou;
Jesus Navas, Diego Carlos, Jules Kounde, Karim Rekik;
Ivan Rakitic, Nemanja Gudelj, Joan Jordan;
Erik Lamela, Anthony Martial, Lucas Ocampos.
SEVILLA SUBS: Marko Dmitrovic, Javi Diaz, Gonzalo Montiel, Ludwig Augustinsson, Jesus Manuel Corona, Munir El Haddadi, Rafa Mir, Youssef En-Nesyri, Jose Carmona, Juanlu Sanchez, Ivan Romero, Nacho Quintana.
Goals:
Barca hit the front!!! Dembele keeps the ball in and tracks inside before passing to Pedri. The 19-year-old feigns shooting twice on his way into the box and finally does shoot across goal, beating Bounou to find the far corner and put Barca 1-0 up! It’s been coming, and the mercurial teenager makes the difference again for the Blaugrana.
So, what’s next?
That close-run win sees Barca leapfrog Sevilla and Atletico Madrid to move to second in the table, albeit still 12 points behind runaway leaders Real Madrid.
Sevilla drops to fourth, behind Atleti on goal difference, but with numerous vital players yet to return from injury and the quality of their performance in this game, their battle to finish in and amongst La Liga’s big three is far from over.
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