Seville: Barcelona kept their La Liga title hopes alive and probably ended Sevilla’s with a 2-0 win in the Sanchez Pizjuan Stadium. Ousmane Dembele and Lionel Messi gave Barca a win in the ground where they lost 2-0 in the Copa del Rey 17 days ago and just four days before the teams meet again in the Camp Nou.
The win saw Barcelona climb to the second position and if Real Madrid win their next fixture they would leapfrog Ronald Koeman’s side. The first half saw both teams play a tactical game with Sevilla willing to sit deep and allow Barca possession and they defended with few problems until the 29th minute when Leo threaded the ball through for Dembele to run clear and thread the ball past Bono in the Sevilla goal.
The Frenchman dodged around several Sevilla defenders before putting the ball through Bono’s legs. Sevilla didn’t budge much to trouble the Catalans in attack and Barcelona almost doubled their lead on 60 minutes when Dembele’s shot was blocked but fell in the way of Sergino Dest who rattled the ball off the post.
Barcelona’s another attempt misfired, eight minutes later when Messi directed a through ball into the box which Clement Lenglet headed but the goal was ruled offside and was disallowed.
After a frantic final 20 minutes with a Sevilla’s goal disallowed, when Youssef En-Nesyri found the back of the net, Messi secured the win for Barcelona on 85 minutes, with a right-footed shot from close range from a Ilaix Moriba.
