Barcelona 5-2 Sevilla: Raphinha for hat-trick as Cancelo's 1st goal since return

Raphinha stole the show with a hat-trick as Barcelona restored their four-point lead at LaLiga's summit after Sunday's 5-2 win over Sevilla.

Match Report

Having seen second-placed Real Madrid thrash Elche 4-1 on Saturday, Hansi Flick's side responded in emphatic fashion at Camp Nou to keep things under control with 10 league games remaining.

Barca came flying out of the blocks and found their reward when Djibril Sow clumsily felled Joao Cancelo, with Raphinha on hand to coolly dink his ninth-minute penalty down the middle and open the scoring.

A Jose Angel Carmona handball when attempting to tackle Cancelo handed Barca their second spot-kick 12 minutes later, and Raphinha drilled into the bottom-left corner despite Odysseas Vlachodimos diving the right way and getting a hand to the effort.

Dani Olmo put the hosts three goals to the good with a thumping 38th-minute finish after Marc Bernal's deflected pass fell his way, but Sevilla hit back before the break when Oso redirected Juanlu Sanchez's delivery back past Joan Garcia.

However, Raphinha extinguished any hopes of a Sevilla comeback when completing his treble with 51 minutes on the clock after linking up with substitute Fermin Lopez and seeing his shot fortuitously deflect off Nemanja Gudelj, leaving Vlachodimos stranded.

Cancelo finally got in on the act when combining with Raphinha and finishing smartly for his first goal since returning to Barca before Ronald Araujo and Robert Lewandowski passed up further chances late on.

Sevilla managed a late consolation when Sow nodded past Garcia from Oso's cross, though that could not take the gloss off a dominant home performance.

Data Debrief: Penalty perfection for Raphinha

Raphinha became just the sixth Barcelona player to score two penalties in a single LaLiga game this century, following Patrick Kluivert in 2002, Samuel Eto'o in 2005, Lionel Messi on three occasions (twice in 2012 and 2014), Neymar in 2015 and Luis Suarez in 2016.

The Brazilian's treble also took him to 11 league goals for the campaign, too, while he has found the net six times in his last six top-flight appearances against Sevilla.

Raphinha accounted for a massive 1.7 expected goals (xG) of Barca's total 3.36 tally, with Sevilla mustering just 0.83 in response to show the gulf in class between the two sides.

Match Events

0' The match is about to start!

0' Match Event for Barcelona vs Sevilla

9' GOAL! Raphinha makes no mistake and scores the penalty! Barcelona 1-0 Sevilla

16' Olmo's effort towards the underside of the crossbar is superbly saved

21' GOAL! Raphinha strikes his penalty low into the net! Barcelona 2-0 Sevilla

34' Martin sweeps past the defenders and shoots, but Vlachodimos makes a great save

36' Highlight from Barcelona vs Sevilla

38' GOAL! Olmo gets a nice pass & nets inside the right post! Barcelona 3-0 Sevilla

44' Lewandowski receives a pass from Olmo but his header goes wide

48' GOAL! Oso pulls one back for the visitors just before HT! Barcelona 3-1 Sevilla

51' GOAL! Raphinha finds the top corner with a great effort! Barcelona 4-1 Sevilla

60' GOAL! Cancelo makes a good run and pulls the trigger! Barcelona 5-1 Sevilla

67' Yamal, Araujo and Casado on, Cancelo, Bardghji, Bernal off

69' Araujo's header goes wide

72' Vargas unleashes a quick low drive to the bottom right corner, but it is saved

77' Vlachodimos pulls off a great save to deny Robert Lewandowski

82' Gavi returns, hat-trick hero Raphinha is subbed off

84' A sweet pass gives Lewandowski time to measure a shot, but it goes just wide

Line-ups

Barcelona XI: Lewandowski, Cancelo, Olmo, Raphinha, Pedri, Joan García, Roony Bardghji, Gerard Martín, Cubarsi, Bernal, Xavi Espart

Subs: Szczesny, Rashford, Ferran Torres, Araujo, Eric Garcia, Casado, Gavi, Fermín López, Yamal, Diego Kochen, Álvaro Cortés, Tommy Marqués

Sevilla XI: Sanchez, Gudelj, Odysseas Vlachodimos, Sow, Gabriel Suazo, Agoume, Akor Adams, Kouassi, Juanlu Sánchez, José Ángel Carmona, Oso

Subs: Azpilicueta, Nyland, Maupay, Jordan, Januzaj, Batista Mendy, Chidera Ejuke, Rubén Vargas, Federico Gattoni, Isaac Romero, Manu Bueno, Andrés Castrín