Sevilla 1-4 Barcelona: Blaugrana secure victory away to vie for league top spot

Game is over and the final score is Sevilla 1-4 Barcelona. Here is the match report.

Match Report

Barcelona are chasing down their La Liga title rivals once again after a 4-1 win on the road at Sevilla.

At the end of the weekend’s action, Barcelona are now just one point behind second place Atletico Madrid, and two behind leaders Real Madrid.

A 1-1 draw in the Madrid derby opened the door for Hansi Flick and his Barcelona side seized their opportunity in Andalucia with all sides now level on 23 games played.

As part of a chaotic opening at the Estadio Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan, Robert Lewandowski’s early opener was cancelled out by a quickfire equaliser from Ruben Vargas.

Ronald Araujo’s first-half injury was the main talking point at half time for Barcelona fans before substitute Fermin Lopez instantly headed the away side back in front after the restart.

Vargas’ was denied a second equaliser by VAR before Raphinha lashed home a superb third goal to put some distance between the two teams late on.

Lopez’s red card could not dull Barcelona’s momentum in the closing stages as Eric Garcia headed home Raphinha’s cross to cap off a dominant night for the visitors.

The final result tightens up the title race, just as Flick wanted, as the season moves into its final few months for all involved.

Barcelona also have a schedule advantage over Los Blancos, who face more matches in Europe, after they and Atletico Madrid already booked a spot in the knockout phase for the start of March.

With no Champions League game in midweek, Barcelona have a break on the horizon, ahead of a home clash against in-form Rayo Vallecano on February 17 as Real Madrid face back to back games against Manchester City in the Round of 16 playoffs.

Barcelona will learn their Copa del Rey semi final opponents after the draw on February 12.

Match Events

0' The match is about to start!

7' Lewandowski opens the scoring for the visitors! Sevilla 0-1 Barcelona

8' Vargas quickly responses with an equalizer! Sevilla 1-1 Barcelona

15' Raphinha drives to the edge of the box, takes a shot but Nyland has an easy save

16' Szczesny comes off his line to make a save as Romero goes down

18' Saul is shown a yellow card for a foul on Araujo

22' Araujo cannot continue the game and is replaced by Cubarsi

33' Salas is down on the field after fighting for a header with Gavi

35' Yamal cuts to his left and takes a shot which whizzes past the right post

38' Gavi is shown a yellow card for a bad challenge on Vargas

42' Yamal tees it up for Kounde who hits it on the volley but it sails over the goal

45' Lukebakio with an overhead attempt which forces Szczesny to make a good save

46' Gavi is replaced by Fermin Lopez in the half-time

47' Fermin scores from Pedri's assist right after coming on! Sevilla 1-2 Barcelona

48' Pedri finds Yamal and the 17-year-old tries a volley but not on the target

48' Vargas scores the rebound but it's disallowed for OFFSIDE

49' Romero is shown a yellow card for an earlier challenge on Pedri

53' Saul goes down claiming a push from Kounde but the referee says no penalty

55' Raphinha scores into the bottom corner to double the lead! Sevilla 1-3 Barcelona

62' Red Card! Fermín López sent off for a foul on Sow after VAR review

68' Pedri wins a freekick in the middle of the pitch after drawing a foul from Ejuke

71' Lewandowski and De Jong are replaced by Dani Olmo and Eric Garcia

85' Suso takes a shot with his left which is saved by Szczesny

89' García heads it home to kill the game for 10-man visitors! Sevilla 1-4 Barcelona

Line-ups

Sevilla XI: Nyland, Gudelj, Saul , Sow, Dodi Lukébakio, Pedrosa, Rubén Vargas, Loïc Badé, Juanlu Sánchez, Isaac Romero, Kike Salas

Subs: Suso, Teixeira, Álvaro Fernández, Chidera Ejuke, Agoume, Peque Fernández, Ramón Martínez, Alberto Flores, Stanis Idumbo, Manu Bueno

Barcelona XI: Szczesny, Lewandowski, I. Martinez, De Jong, Raphinha, Kounde, Araujo, Pedri, Balde, Gavi, Yamal

Subs: Olmo, Pena, Ferran Torres, Eric Garcia, Casado, Pau Víctor, Pablo Torre, Fermín López, Gerard Martín, Héctor Fort, Cubarsi, Diego Kochen