Barcelona 4-2 Sevilla: Hits and Flops
Barcelona got back to winning ways with an entertaining 4-2 win over Sevilla at the Camp Nou, though Lionel Messi's injury in the first-half marred the game. The Argentine ace was wreathing in pain as he landed awkwardly to the ground, seriously injuring his right arm.
But he had already done his job by then, scoring once and assisting Coutinho for the opener. The hosts, regardless, continued to dominate and struck twice more in the second-half. Los Nervionenses put up a great fight too, pulling two back through Pablo Sarabia and Luis Muriel in the final 10 minutes to ensure a frantic finish.
Here are the hits and flops from the game:
Hit: The goals
Barcelona versus Sevilla is amongst those fixtures that always promises the thrills and spills. Today was no different: hosts thoroughly dominating in the first 45 minutes, Sevilla pushing for a late comeback, and a six-goal salvo. Barring Suarez's penalty - which was although dispatched nonchalantly - the other five goals were eye-catching and reeked quality.
Coutinho commenced the goalfest by delicately chipping the ball over into the top corner before Messi soon piled on with his trademark run and sliced through the Sevilla defence to double the advantage. Rakitic and Muriel scored almost similar types of goal from the edge of the area, but the Croatian went for a low-drive whereas the latter unleashed a curler into the bottom corner. Nonetheless, both were amazing.
Finally, Sarabia got one for himself too, arrowing a shot that took a deflection off Clement Lenglet on its way into the back of the net. But that was still a wowzer of a goal.
So it wasn't just a goalfest, but a festival of top-drawer strikes.