Copa Del Rey, Barcelona 6-1 Sevilla (Aggregate 6-3): Five Talking Points
Spanish giants Barcelona advanced to their ninth straight Copa del Rey semi-finals earlier on Thursday, 31st January, thrashing opponents Sevilla by the massive scoreline of 6-1, in the game that was held at Camp Nou. In the previous away leg of the two-way fixture, the Catalans had participated with very few key players in their squad and thereby had ended up with a shock 0-2 loss. They hence needed at least a three-goal win in the home leg to stay alive in the competition, and duly delivered that and more in style.
Philippe Coutinho scored twice and Ivan Rakitic, Sergi Roberto, Luis Suarez and the man himself - Lionel Messi - contributed one each to the scoresheets. A single strike from Guilherme Arana gave Sevilla their sole consolation at Barcelona's hunting grounds.
The Blaugranas' hunt began in the 13th minute itself, as under-fire Coutinho scored off the penalty spot. Barca's goalkeeper Jasper Cillessen went on to save a given penalty later on, denying any further chance for Sevilla to advance further. In the 31st minute came Barca's second, as Arthur Melo set up a shot for Ivan Rakitic to tuck into the goal. The first half thus ended with the aggregate score of 2-2, Barcelona thus having nullified Sevilla's first-leg goals in the first 45 minutes itself.
The home side went on to shock Sevilla twice in two minutes as Coutinho first nodded a Suarez' cross into the goal in the 53rd minute, and then Messi finding a free Roberto and dispatching the ball right away, the latter promptly scoring - in the very next minute. A two-goal lead to the aggregates brought in some complacency as Sevilla's Ever Banega fired off an assist to Arana. The reply goal from them killed off any rising laziness among the hosts, as they promptly played with better caution since.
The last two goals came in the dying moments of the game, as Suarez and Messi, along with help from Jordi Alba - three of the most fitting men in the side - completed the win in style. Barcelona thus won the game 6-1 and the overall fixture by 6-3.
Here are the five talking points from the game.
#1 The Camp Nou is Barca's property like no other
No footballing side in the world will ever dominate their home games, as the Barcelona side right now. Top teams across any footballing league may be strong and skilled as they like, but it would still take several exponentiations of superhuman-slash-otherworldly efforts to even draw a game at Barca's home turf.
At this point, let me remind the readers how coach Ernesto Valverde spoke, after their loss at Seville. A loss by two goals, that too without even scoring a single away goal that could have proven vital, and yet Valverde was unfazed as he spoke. He was already looking forward to the game at Camp Nou where he believed the real game would happen. And how.
Barcelona loyalists would immediately be thrown back in time to a similar night from nearly two years ago when the first away-leg away defeat was even worse, and the ultimate prize was a hundred times worthier too. The Remontada, as fans now come to know of it, happened as Barcelona did the unthinkable by overcoming a 0-4 away loss against French giants Paris Saint Germain (PSG) in the Champions League Quarter-finals, with a similar 6-1 win on their Camp Nou return. Suarez, Messi, Alba, Rakitic and Roberto were present on that fateful night as well, one of the side's best nights in recent years.
In the ongoing season as well, Barcelona have recorded just one home defeat in the La Liga, while they were unbeaten at home in the whole of last season. Quite memorably, Camp Nou also witnessed a 5-1 thrashing of arch-rivals Real Madrid in the La Liga this season, on 28th October 2018.