Barcelona will head into the international break in second place in the standings as their unbeaten record in La Liga has come to an end thanks to a 4-1 defeat away to Sevilla at the Ramón Sánhez-Pizjuán
on Sunday afternoon. Barça played quite possibly their worst game of the entire Hansi Flick Era, and deservedly lost to an inspired Sevilla side that exposed every possible weakness in the Blaugrana to dominate the game and claim all three points at home.
FIRST HALF
The start of the game was about as bad as we’ve ever seen from Hansi Flick’s team in his tenure as Barça looked helpless with and without the ball. They offered zero attacking threat and their defense was vulnerable and desperate, and Sevilla took advantage and played really well to start the game.
The home team also benefitted from a truly horrendous refereeing decision as Isaac Romero threw himself to the ground inside the box while in a tangle with Ronald Araujo, and the referee was called to the screen by VAR where he somehow found a way to give a penalty that never, ever happened. Alexis Sánchez stepped to the spot and scored against his former club, and Sevilla had the lead after 15 minutes.
Barça failed to respond to the opener and Sevilla’s dominance grew even further, with the hosts easily finding spaces in behind the Blaugrana offside trap which led to multiple huge scoring chances. If not for Wojciech Szczesny’s brilliant saves and some bad finishing by the hosts Barça would have been down by three or four goals inside the first half-hour, and they were very lucky to only be losing 1-0 after 30 of the worst minutes we’ve ever seen from them.
But Sevilla still found another goal on the counter as Rubén Vargas beat the offside trap and gave Romero an easy tap-in at the far post, and Barça’s defeat seemed assured. The Catalans finally woke up, however, and gave themselves a lifeline just before halftime when a perfect cross from Pedri found Marcus Rashford who scored a beautiful volley to put Barça on the board.
The halftime whistle came to end a dreadful opening period for the Catalans, but there was still a small chance to complete the comeback if they somehow found a way to improve on a pathetic first half performance.
SECOND HALF
Hansi Flick made two changes at halftime, with Eric Garcia and Alejandro Balde replacing Araujo and Gerard Martín. The Blaugrana were more poised on the ball and more organized at the back, and Sevilla’s counter-attacking threat was diminished.
The home team still had moments of danger and had another penalty shout for a possible handball by Balde inside the box, but the referee did not point to the spot this time. There was a penalty in the 75th minute when Balde was pulled to the ground by Adnan Januzaj, but Robert Lewandowski missed the spot kick badly and Barça wasted a golden chance to equalize.
Barça had another huge opportunity to make the game all square when Roony Bardghji dribbled past a couple of defenders and found himself all alone in front of the goalkeeper, but the young winger’s effort was tame and went straight at Vlachodimos.
Roony had another big chance but shot it straight at the keeper again, and the ensuing counter-attack ended Barça’s bid for a comeback as José Ángel Carmona was played through on the right wing, took his time and fired a perfect low strike to find the bottom far corner and clinch win for the hosts in the 90th minute.
There was still time for more joy for Sevilla as Chidera Ejuke was played through on the counter and gave Akor Adams the easiest of tap-ins to turn Barça’s defeat into a humiliation. The final whistle came to end a horrible afternoon for the Catalans, who not only lost top spot in the table but looked about as bad as we’ve ever seen since Hansi Flick took charge.
If the PSG loss was bad, this was even worse. There’s a lot of soul-searching to be done during the international break, and this very bad week ends in truly terrible fashion.
Sevilla: Vlachodimos; Carmona, Azpilicueta, Marcão, Suazo; Agoumé, Mendy (Peque 73’); Alexis (Ejuke 90+3’), Sow (Gudelj 61’), Vargas (Januzaj 73’); Romero (Adams 61’)
Goals: Alexis (pen 14’), Romero (37’), Carmona (90’), Adams (90+7’)
Barcelona: Szczesny; Kounde, Araujo (Eric 46’), Cubarsí, Martín (Balde 46’); De Jong (Christensen 88’), Pedri; Rashford, Olmo, Ferran (Roony 69’); Lewandowski
Goal: Rashford (45+7’)
