FC Barcelona 4-0 Sevilla: 5 players who impressed for the Blaugrana | LaLiga 2019-20
Barcelona took Sevilla to the cleaners as they put four past them in a game that at first seemed like it could swing in either side's favor.
Although Ernesto Valverde's side began the game on the front foot, Sevilla were the ones who fashioned the best of chances - namely three of them. Luuk de Jong came close to scoring not once but twice, but his fluffed efforts allowed the home side to enter the game.
In the space of eight minutes, the Blaugrana showed how it's done in front of goal by dispatching three past the keeper. Luis Suarez broke the deadlock with a sensational overhead kick, before Arturo Vidal and Ousmane Dembele displayed their acumen in the final third and put the result beyond doubt.
Lionel Messi, who had a couple of strong efforts from free-kicks, saw his shots repeatedly go whistling over the bar. However, he did notch a dead ball into the back of the net in the 78th minute in gorgeous fashion, leaving Julen Lopetegui's troops lurching.
Barcelona's triumph, however, came at the expense of three suspensions, with the champions seeing off the 90 minutes with nine men. Dembele and debutant Ronald Araujo were given the marching orders in the dying stages, while another yellow card for Gerard Pique means he will not be available for the next fixture against Eibar.
The hosts were far from their best in the opening stages of the game, but kept their heads and illustrated how clinical they can be in front of goal. They could well have been two or even three down before Suarez's eye-catching bicycle kick, but it was not to be for Sevilla.
Having kicked the season off with an impressive 10 points from their opening four LaLiga games, Sevilla are now stumbling with just one win from their last four.
On that note, let us look at five players who rose to the occasion for Barcelona.
#5 Marc-Andre ter Stegen
Despite enduring a fruitless initial period, Barcelona did well to dig in and keep themselves in the game. And one man who helped them do that was Marc-Andre ter Stegen.
The German was peerless in goal, distributing the ball well and completing all the routine stops one would expect him to make. But one save off Luuk de Jong left many a jaw on the floor.
Defying the laws of physics, the shot-stopper got down to his left brilliantly and smothered the ball away. It was the spark that Barcelona needed to go on their goal-scoring spree.