Welcome back to TalkBarca. Our topic for today is the Match Review of FC Barcelona vs Sevilla. Barcelona faced the tough side of Sevilla at the Camp Nou, and the match ended in a 1-1 draw. Both sides showed their strengths. However, there is a lot to consider about the game. This Match Review is divided into two parts discussing the first half and the second half individually. Sevilla did play better football than FC Barcelona, especially in the second half. Therefore, Barcelona is the luckier side to get a point out of this fixture. Let’s discuss.
FC BARCELONA VS SEVILLA MATCH REVIEW
FIRST HALF
Sevilla started off the game with an intention to dominate Barcelona. They opened the scoring when De Jong scored the first goal of the match in the 8th minute. However, Barcelona was lucky enough to equalize 3 minutes later. The equalizer was scored by Philippe Coutinho who was able to put the ball calmly at the back of the net. Still, there were no signs of beautiful or high-quality football Barcelona is known to play. Sevilla had an upper hand all the time. Both Griezmann and Messi missed their chances which went off target.
Furthermore, there was no attack from the right side which is probably going to pose more problems for Griezmann later. This was FC Barcelona’s worst start under Ronald Koemann so far. Koemann’s tactics did not seem to trouble Sevilla a lot. Sevilla’s 4-3-3 surely questioned Ronald Koemann’s tactical planning. However, Sevilla did not manage to score any other goal which kept the Barcelona fans calm about whatever was happening on the pitch. FC Barcelona also made a few passing mistakes which are not very common in this team. The majority of mistakes were done by De Jong and Busquests. This was pretty surprising, indeed.
SECOND HALF
Sevilla came back even stronger in the second half. They were pressing better, and faster. This made it even more difficult for FC Barcelona to play their natural football. Barcelona struggled to make any significant goal scoring chances. They also found it difficult to maintain possession despite playing at their home surface. Antoine Griezmann and Ansu Fati were subbed off for Trincao and Pedri respectively. The substitutions did not seem to make any significant impact either. Trincao is having an overall good time playing for the first team. However, no Barca player really sparked in this game except Coutinho.
Philippe Coutinho once again carried FC Barcelona and proved his doubters wrong. He scored the only goal by FC Barcelona in this game, and also played a brilliant role in the midfield. He was substituted by Pjanic who came on in the 75th minute of the game. Furthermore, Barcelona’s latest signing, Sergino Dest also came in for Jordi Alba who is injured. Dest is a Right Full Back. However, he was forced to play on the Left Back position because there was no other player to fill in for Jordi Alba. He had a decent outing.
Jordi’s injury can also mean that Sergino Dest is going to get more game time in the upcoming days. This is not only Dest’s chance to make a permanent place in the team but is also going to show how good he really is. Barcelona did create a few chances during the last 10 minutes of the game. Messi had one attempt at goal denied by the goalkeeper. Furthermore, Sergio Busquests set up Frenkie De Jong with a very accurate cutback. However, De Jong was not able to hit the target. Barcelona picked up the pace when it was too late.
CONCLUSION
This is it from the FC BARCELONA VS SEVILLA Match Review. This is the first time Barcelona did not win under Ronald Koemann. There is a lot to work on the training ground for this FC Barcelona team. The positives and glimpses of a strong season ahead is there, but there is also work to be put in. Sevilla was undoubted, a tough task for the Catalonia players. A point in this fixture does worth a lot. FC Barcelona is now at 5th place on the points table with 7 points and 3 games played.
Next up is Getafe.
