La Liga was back at the Estadi Olimpic this Sunday and Barça picked things up exactly where they left them before the international break… Winning, and winning in style! Sevilla, one of the traditional giants of Spanish football, never looked like they had a chance.
Real Madrid, who the Catalans meet in El Clásico next weekend, had piled on the pressure by beating Celta the night before, but Barça’s three point lead at the top of the table was as good as secure before the half-time whistle had even blown.
Gavi is back!
Robert Lewandowski’s brace took his tally for the season to an outstanding 12, while Pedri netted a beauty in between. The goals looked to have dried up in the second half. But young Pablo Torre had different ideas. Two late goals from him and that was a total return of five from a fantastic day at the office.
Although there was also a setback whern Eric Garcia got hurt in the warm-up and was forced to drop out of the team, this was a night of many highlights. The blaugrana faithful got to welcome Fermín Lopez back into action following his absence through injury. But the biggest cheer of the night was reserved for the 82nd minute. Not much less than a year since he went down with a nasty knee injury, Gavi was finally back in the Barça midfield. And the ovation from the fans was a moment to behold. Beautiful.
Three-goal blitz
Things were a little slow to get started, but it was well worth the wait. And 24 minutes weren’t that much time, which what it took for Lewandowski to open the scoring from the penalty spot. Former La Masia man Peque clumsily brought Raphinha to the ground and the Pole coolly converted the kick.
Sevilla had started brightly, but once they were off the mark, Barça were utterly in command. By half-time it was already 3-0 and the three points were as good as won.
Goal number two came off a blistering counter attack spearheaded by Lamine Yamal, who set things up perfectly for Pedri to curl in the most exquisite of finishes.
And then what originally looked to have been a fabulous long range goal from Raphinha turned out to be another stroke of genius from Lewandowski. The Brazilian’s shot was actually heading wide, but the Pole, onside by the narrowest of margins, had managed to divert it goalwards.
Torre double
The job had already been done, and rather like in the last game against Alavés, the second half was sometimes a case of going through the motions. With big games just around the corner. Hansi Flick could afford the luxury of resting some of his key men.
Sevilla never looked convinced that a comeback was even remotely possible and although Dodi Lukebakio had a goal disallowed for offside and fellow Belgian Stanis Idumbo did grab a late consolation, by this stage they were largely on a damage limitation exercise.
And on that front, they were successful, at least for most of the second half. For much as Barça pushed and pushed for more goals, they weren’t forthcoming until the final minutes, when two goals both came from the feet of Pablo Torre.
Having already rifled in on 82 minutes, the youngster then whizzed a free kick goalward. There was some confusion when it appeared that Iñigo Martinez had nicked the definitive touch from an offside position, but replays confirmed that he hadn’t made contact with the ball. A superlative 5-1 victory makes it six wins in a row against Sevilla and an unbeaten run of 18 games against the Andalusians. Barça are firing on all cylinders right now, and with Bayern Munich and Real Madrid to come up this week, it’s all happening at the perfect time!