Barcelona: Phillippe Coutinho scored his first La Liga goal since returning from a loan spell with Bayern Munich to help Barcelona draw 1-1 against Sevilla on Sunday (October 4). It was also the first time Barcelona dropped points this year under new manager Ronald Koeman.
Both the goals came during the opening few minutes of the game. Sevilla were the first to break the deadlock when Luke de Jong netted on eight minutes. Pouncing on a poor head clearance in the area, the Dutch international smashed into the back of the net past Barca keeper Neto.
However, their joy was shortlived as Coutinho scored the equaliser two minutes later. The Brazilian reacted fastest to fire home after a Lionel Messi pass that was deflected into his path. The match was pretty much tight for both sides. Both Barca and Sevilla had chances to score on a few of the occasions but failed to capitalise on them.
The scoreline could have been different had the referee awarded a penalty when Messi was brought down inside the box in the injury time. Sevilla were exceptionally impressive on the night and Koeman must retrospect to look at what changes he is ought to make, to extract a win from tough fixtures like this.
\With UCL almost knocking on the doors, the previous season nightmares and plan for redemption must plague the minds of every Barcelona player and even their manager.
