Barcelona 4-0 Sevilla: 5 Talking Points and Tactical Analysis | La Liga 2019/20
Barcelona cruised past Sevilla 4-0 at the Camp Nou to move to within two points of Real Madrid at the perch of the La Liga table. The visitors started the better of the two sides but were quite clumsy with their finishing.
The hosts made them pay with three goals in eight minutes and never looked back thereafter. Luis Suarez opened the scoring in the 27th minute before Arturo Vidal made the net ripple five minutes later. Ousmane Dembele added further gloss to the score-line with a remarkable finish in the 35th minute.
In the second half, Sevilla had chances to reduce the deficit. But, akin to their first-half showing, they missed the mark astonishingly, thereby enabling Barcelona to establish a stronghold in the match.
Lionel Messi put the result beyond doubt with a sublime free-kick in the 78th minute. However, there was late drama at the Camp Nou when Ronald Araujo and Dembele were sent off in quick succession. While the former was shown a red card for his challenge on Javier Hernandez, the Frenchman was shown the way to the tunnel for dissent.
Here is a look at the talking points from the game.
#5 Barcelona’s three-goal salvo knocks the stuffing out of Sevilla
Barcelona came into the game on the back of an impressive comeback against Inter Milan, where the Blaugrana weren’t at their best but got the job done. Hence, plenty felt that the Catalan outfit would continue on that upward trajectory and come out all guns blazing against Sevilla.
However, for the first quarter of the game, Barcelona were second best and in truth, quite lucky to have not fallen behind.
Sevilla started the encounter brightly and switched the play quite efficiently, often finding the marauding Jesus Navas or Sergio Reguilon in space on the flanks. Yet, they couldn’t combine their industry with ingenuity, meaning that they allowed the hosts to get back into the match. And, the Blaugrana did so in some style.
In eight minutes, the home side made the net bulge thrice. Suarez got things underway with a spectacular effort before Vidal and Dembele added to the score-line before half-time.
Thereafter, Barcelona looked a completely different side as they passed the ball with a lot more conviction, as opposed to their circumspect approach at the outset. Moreover, they pressed the ball high up the pitch and that ploy directly led to the 3rd goal.
Thus, during the opening 45 minutes, the Blaugrana had somehow managed to flicker between the miserable and the mesmerising. Thankfully for the Camp Nou faithful though, the latter aspect shone through, despite the former looking extremely likely for a major chunk of the period.