Lionel Messi brought Barcelona back from the dead as his goal and assist inspired a thrilling 2-1 victory over Sevilla in La Liga on Sunday.
Barca’s only change from their 3-1 defeat to Manchester City on Tuesday came in midfield, where Denis Suarez was preferred to Andre Gomes. Sevilla, on the other hand, switched to a 4-1-4-1 formation and welcomed back Samir Nasri.
Sevilla beat Barca 2-1 in the same fixture last season but previously had not defeated La Blaugrana on home soil since 2007 and in Messi faced a player who had scored more La Liga goals against them (26) than anyone else in the division.
Both goalkeepers were called into action just seconds in as Luciano Vietto’s angled shot had to be gathered by Marc-Andre ter Stegen, while Sergio Rico pushed away Luis Suarez’s close-range finish.
Sevilla applied plenty of pressure on the Barca backline throughout the first half, best represented by all four of their attackers being remarkably flagged offside when a through ball went in.
Sergi Roberto was guilty of being error-prone against City, and moments after he made up for a mistake to block Vitolo’s shot, the right-back fails to do so a second time as he dropped too deep and let a through ball pass by him, allowing the winger to slot a finish past Ter Stegen.
What made the Andalusians’ goal even better was how they broke so quickly from a Barca attack, which ended with Neymar’s layoff failing to be read by Suarez.
Vietto then outmuscled Javier Mascherano in the Barca box before steadying himself for a strike across the face of Ter Stegen’s goal from a tight angle, but it whistled the wrong side of the German’s far post.
Indeed, Barca’s other best chance in the opening 40 minutes came through Messi, who drilled a shot a yard wide after he was teed up by Neymar.
Vitolo then squandered the chance to double Sevilla’s lead when he was found in the box from a quick throw, but he dragged his shot wide.
At that point, Sevilla had been enjoying 55 percent possession, attempted nine shots to Barca’s three and looked a good bet to see through their high press, until Messi popped up just before half-time to acutely bend home a break away from the edge of the area.
Barca came back out for the second half like a freight train as Rakitic wasted no time in attempting a curler first time on the edge of the box that Rico had to beat away, although it could’ve been preceded by Nasri restoring Sevilla’s lead, had his shot at Ter Stegen’s near post not been so tame.
Soon after, Adil Rami made a crucial block on Messi to deny him from a possible second goal. The catalyst behind Barca’s resurgence, the Argentine then took on Suarez’s backheel from a long ball in the Sevilla box, but Rico tipped his opponent’s finish over.
Messi threatened to score one of *the* Messi goals when he twisted and turned past no less than five Sevilla shirts before venturing into the Andalusians’ box, but the attacker couldn’t keep his shot down.
Instead, he left shooting responsibility to Suarez, who was slipped in by the No 10 to his left and drove the ball hard and low past Rico.
The Uruguayan could’ve grabbed a quick-fire second when he got past his man down the right of Sevilla’s box and to the byline, but with the angle against him, he sent his cross-cum-shot wide.
However, Sevilla were almost gifted the equaliser via Ter Stegen, who was in no-man’s land when a corner came in. N’Zonzi proceeded to climb above the goalkeeper, but the midfielder failed to head into an empty net.
Suarez, meanwhile, was guilty of a similarly-gilt-edged chance himself as he hit the ball straight at Rico from point-blank range after he was found unmarked by Messi’s cutback.
Yet a bizarre incident could’ve ended in embarrassment for both Barca and Messi. After N’Zonzi was booked for clipping the No 10, the latter’s right boot flew off his foot.
Incredibly, Messi took too long in putting his boot back on and was booked as a result, before he ended up throwing the accessory to the ground.
Another controversial moment saw Suarez carded for protesting after Carrico didn’t see a second yellow for grappling with him. Some deemed the No 9’s conduct as tactical, given he will miss Barca’s next game after the international break against Malaga and not the Clasico.
Barca had the chance to avoid a nervy finale when Neymar was clear through from Messi’s release, with Sevilla only having one man in defence, but instead of squaring to Suarez, he went it alone and ran straight into Rico.
Sevilla 1-2 Barcelona
Vitolo 15 (S) Messi 43, Suarez 61 (B)
Sevilla: Rico; Mariano, Rami, Carrico, Escudero; N'Zonzi; Vazquez (Ganso 67), Nasri (Iborra 78), Sarabia (Correa 84), Vitolo; Vietto
Barcelona: Ter Stegen; Sergi, Mascherano, Umtiti, Digne; Rakitic (Gomes 73), Busquets, Denis (Rafinha 84); Messi, Suarez, Neymar
Referee: Jaime Latre
