Sevilla 1-2 FC Barcelona: Winning end to the season

Barça have ended their season, and with it Xavi’s two and half year tenure as first team manager, on a winning note. Robert Lewandowski scored the first early on, home side Sevilla pulled level in the 31st minute and then MVP Fermin Lopez secured the three points with a finely struck goal midway through the second half.

And so ends a season in which Barça have provided plenty of brilliance but sadly weren’t able to deliver any trophies. As confirmed a week earlier, they have finished in a dignified second place in the league, with four wins out of four in the final set of games.

Lewy opener

Neither side had anything other than honour to play for, but it certainly didn’t show. The pressure off and eager to put a winning end to their respective seasons, they both gave it a more than proper go.

Barça capitalised on their early domination with Lewandowski setting the goalscoring in motion right on the quarter hour mark. Some sweet footwork from Joao Cancelo ended with the ball being whipped behind the home defence where Lewandowski’s raised foot was waiting to steer it home.

Defied by the woodwork

A quarter of an hour later, Sevilla were back level. En-Nesyri was the man to beat Ter Stegen, who was unfortunately already out of contention for the Zamora after Unai Simón of Athletic had kept a clean sheet the day before.

And then we had a bit of everything. What brilliant goalkeeping from Ørjan Nyland couldn’t do to keep Barça from scoring, the woodwork did instead, with both Pedri and Cancelo denied that way, while Dodi Lukebakio headed onto the post at the other end too.

Fermin seals it

Both sides were serving up a football spectacle, but it has to be said that the guys in blaugrana were making the bigger contribution. And that contribution was fairly rewarded when Fermin fired a low, well-placed strike past Nyland to claim Barça’s second goal of the evening.

Sevilla had fizzled out somewhat. For much of the second half they were being so utterly smothered by Barça’s passing and possession that the Sanchez Pizjuan began to voice its discontent.

The home side responded by upping their game and for the final minutes a third Barça goal or a Sevilla equaliser were likelihoods in almost equal proportion.

Eventually, and despite plenty of incident along the way, neither happened and the Catalans have extended their unbeaten tun against the Andalusians to 17 games in a row, the last five of which have all been wins.