Seville-Barcelona | Rakitic leaves to the Barça in the canvas

Sevilla hit first in the Cup semi-final, and they did it forcefully in a match in which they knew how to be much more effective than Barça. The 2-0 of Pizjuán in the first leg was sealed with a goal from Rakitic that leaves the Blaugrana team on the canvas and pending a new comeback. The efficiency of Bono, the imposing Koundé and the Croatian's tip when Barça played in search of a draw ended the streak of a Barça that received a very harsh punishment that returns him to harsh reality.

The great tactical novelty that Koeman contributed in his initial approach to managing the structural destitution he manages was the presence of Junior as a right back. The rest of the team, as happened in Sevilla, were marked cards. In the case of the locals, only the presence of En Nesyri en punta instead of Luuk de Jong could be considered a relative surprise.

Both teams raised the game keeping in mind that it was a first leg and entry duel neither of them wanted to go to the opponent's jugular. Maximum respect, keeping the ball and minimizing mistakes were the laws that both teams respected.

Before such an academic and Cartesian party, the imbalance was left to the soloists. The two orchestras played what was expected of them, but a great appearance was missing to throw the duel off balance.

On paper, Barcelona had more numbers to define for soloists, but when the Argentine had his first chance in the eleventh minute, it was conjured by Bono. From there, Sevilla dominated a game in which the control of the ball by one of the teams was synonymous with suffering for the rival.

At the command of Jordan, Sevilla was cornering Barcelona and the appearance of the soloist came from Koundé. The center-back already warned Ter Stegen at 19 minutes and six minutes later broke the Blaugrana defense like butter to first beat Busquets and then portray Umtiti before beating Ter Stegen.

Barça knew that Koundé was one of the rival's main dangers, especially in aerial balls. Koeman's team avoided Sevilla's side fouls and corner kicks throughout the first half, but what they did not imagine was that the French defender, instead of breaking them by air, would destroy them on the ground. That outburst as a soloist in a light music match broke the match and Barça suffered by asking for rest.

Out of site, Barcelona punished until the half and Sevilla had the tie in their hand. Ter Stegen, a shot from Escudero avoided the 2-0 before the half.

Barcelona resumed the match by thanking the break, which served to stop local harassment. Sevilla, who had had Barça on the ropes, let the Barcelona fans grow that returned to approach the domains of Bono through a Messi who still failed to hit the final meters, but the locals were already beginning to suffer from the Catalan siege.

Lopetegui tried to improve the situation with his changes, but Barça continued to harass to the point that the Blaugrana claimed a penalty for the downing of Suso to Alba that Mateu incomprehensibly took out of the area. Either it was not missing or if it was, it was inside.

With five minutes remaining, Koeman decided to move the bench to play the game heads or tails. And the cross came out because to the minute Rakitic took advantage of a slip of Umtiti, that also broke the offside, to end a counterattack and shoot his former team.

Barça had the opportunity to get into the tie with a free-kick from Messi in which Bono shone by demanding that the Koeman comeback, this time, execute it in a return match in which they cannot repeat the mistakes that condemned them in Seville. Without efficiency ahead and with specific failures behind, the culé team received a slap that hurts more to come from whoever comes. Rakitic left Barça on the canvas.