Sevill 1-Barcelona 1 | Sevilla and Barça suffer half

Sevilla and Barcelona left everything on the field, but they were left half with a draw to one that leaves Real Madrid as the great beneficiary at the gates of their match in San Mamés, where they can hit LaLiga. Barça regretted the tie because they played in superiority for half an hour and had more chances and Sevilla, because on this occasion their physical display despite the losses did not give them the expected result. Also is true that those of Lopetegui gave the sensation of regulating their limited strength against a rival who was more responsive than they imagined. When they got 1-0 they thought they had it solved, but a flight by Araújo forced a tie in an epic game that the referee took care of worsening everything he could and more.

The two teams arrived at the game with a casualty truck, not because of COVID, but because of lifelong soccer and The football god wanted to give these two groups a gift, each in their own way, they have been living in the resistance for weeks, with a Sevillian flood that made the night more epic.

Under a blanket of water, Gavi’s Panda’s Barcelona started to look Lopetegui’s remaining team in the eye, which accumulated significant casualties, but contributed a starting eleven with much more mileage than the Blaugrana.

Photo by Papu Gómez

Nico, alternate

Clinging to the faith of Jutglà, which returned to the headline with Gavi and Abde leaving Nico on the bench to avoid scares and improper line-ups if an expulsion occurred during the game, Barça started very well.

Ronald Araújo's photo

However, as usual in recent times, Barça again suffered that downturn from the 25th minute of play. The lack of finishing and also the lack of experience makes the lines grow apart, something that Sevilla, not very bright but solid, knew how to take advantage of.

The distractions of Lopetegui’s men, who were fed up with losing balls in the first half, were not taken advantage of by Xavi’s, who the most they achieved was to shoot from a distance or force corner kicks that ended in nothing. In 30 minutes, Barça had taken five and in minute 32 Sevilla took their first corner and in a slate play in which Abde was allowed to eat the toast by Papu, the Sevilla players scored the first. A demonstration of punch and seniority.

Barça was in serious danger of accusing their fragility and becoming demoralized, but Instead of going to the neck of an injured rival, Sevilla let the Barça cubs recover and in the sixth corner thrown by the Blaugrana team, Araújo, hitherto infamous with the ball, forgave all his sins with a majestic header that was worth the draw just before the break.

Lopetegui detected the error of the first half at halftime and Sevilla came out in the second with one more march and Barça began to suffer, but knew how to weather the storm.

The ‘madness’ of Koundé

The game entered a new phase in the absence of half an hour, when Koundé’s cables were crossed before a charge from Alba to which he responded with a ball to the face of the Barça side. The red one was as clear as the action was absurd for a professional of his stature.

With the game 10 against 11, the thing was to see how the pieces moved on the benches. Lopetegui was the first to react, giving entry to Gudelj and En Nesyri, who were returning after their injury. Xavi, for his part, introduced Lenglet and Nico.

The game got dirty, with a referee whose criteria was a lottery that increased the confusion of the players, increasingly tired and more on the limit. And put to play to the limit, Xavi opted for the Luuk card in front of his old parish while Dembélé intimidated the locals with a shot to the post, but the locals knew how to resist against the disorderly attack by the Barça fans.

Changes

En-Nesyri (69 ‘, Rafa Mir), Gudelj (69′, Rakitic), Clement Lenglet (71′, Eric Garcia), Nico Gonzalez (72 ‘, Ferrán Jutglà), Luke de Jong (84′, Frenkie De Jong), Juanlu Sanchez placeholder image (85 ‘, Papu Gómez), Augustinsson (85′, Delaney), Valentino Fattore Scotta (91 ‘, Lucas Ocampos)

Goals

1-0, 31′: Papu Gómez, 1-1, 44′: Ronald Araujo

Cards

Referee: Carlos del Cerro Grande
VAR Referee: Ignacio Iglesias Villanueva
Busquets (10 ‘, Yellow) Delaney (34 ‘, Yellow) Koundé (63 ‘, Roja) Abdessamad Ezzalzouli (72 ‘, Yellow) Pablo Páez Gavira (76 ‘, Yellow) Juanlu Sanchez placeholder image (87 ‘, Yellow