A determined Messi's masterclass that outclassed Sevilla
Sevilla vs FC Barcelona La Liga Match Analysis - Feb 23, 2019
Sevilla at home, are a tough nut to crack. Valverde brought in a number of changes to the midfield with the two upcoming clasicos in mind. Vidal and Semedo started with Coutinho. Umtiti made a comeback after a prolonged lay off.
Sevilla took full advantage of the sluggish defense and the frozen midfield of Barca. Sarabia was particularly lively as he combined well with Yeddar, Navas and Promes . They looked confident in attacks and tested Ter Stegen very early though it would have been ruled offside if the ball had gone in.
Barcelona struggled to create openings. A disappointing Coutinho looked like he was in an island. He was neither defending nor attacking and gave away the ball easily. His play also affected the likes of Alba and Messi.
There was communication gap between Vidal and Semedo which resulted in many frantic saves by Vidal at the back. Busquets and Rakitic failed to link up with Messi while Suarez was wayward.
Both Suarez and Coutinho were wasteful in attack. Their first touch and anticipation were awful. Not to be left behind, Pique the centre forward, missed one while Vidal’s header was saved by the keeper.
Then something rare happened. Messi gave away the ball in Sevilla’s box and it resulted in a counter attack. Ben Yeddar’s pass was finished off by Navas in fantastic fashion beating the diving Ter Stegen. Sevilla fully deserved to be in the lead and someone up front had his head down, annoyed with himself for the giveaway.
In a few minutes Barcelona were on the attack. Rakitic aimed a lovely cross at Messi. Messi sent in a phenomenal volley that brought Barca back on equal terms. It left everyone stunned because no one saw it, as it whizzed past everyone and crashed into the net.
Sevilla created a few more good chances while Barcelona wasted some more openings. Towards the end of the first half, Sarabia , who was left totally unmarked, gave a neat cross to Mercado, again unmarked, who made no mistake. Sevilla went into half time with a well played 2-1 lead.
Sevilla were the better team while Barca had huge problems to deal with. At half time, Valverde made two important changes. Dembele and Sergi Roberto came in for Vidal and Semedo.
The introduction of the two players injected more pace into Barcelona’s attack. Dembele and Roberto started to link up better with the midfield and there were more attacks.
Barcelona looked more likely to score as they attacked with speed and purpose. Dembele was unable to finish off from the fantastic cross that Luis Suarez had sent in. Suarez was again unable to finish as his shot was saved by the goalie.
A swift Dembele went on the offensive and he gave a beautiful back pass to Messi who was all ready for it. His fantastically measured right footer found the top corner of the net as the Sevilla team and fans looked on in awe.
Soon another rocket from the maestro missed its mark by a whisker. The Sevilla team could sense the usual script that was in the making and they looked uncomfortable.
Coutinho continued to fumble and was ultimately replaced by Alena. Barcelona grew in confidence and started to dominate. A powerful shot from Alena was deflected and the first to react was Messi. He coolly, dinked it over the on-rushing goalkeeper to make it 3-2. It was Messi’s 50th career hattrick .
Barcelona looked more likely to score as they attacked with speed and purpose. Dembele was unable to finish off from the fantastic cross that Luis Suarez had sent in. Suarez was again unable to finish as his shot was saved by the goalie.
A swift Dembele went on the offensive and he gave a beautiful back pass to Messi who was all ready for it. His fantastically measured right footer found the top corner of the net as the Sevilla team and fans looked on in awe.
Soon another rocket from the maestro missed its mark by a whisker. The Sevilla team could sense the usual script that was in the making and they looked uncomfortable.
Coutinho continued to fumble and was ultimately replaced by Alena. Barcelona grew in confidence and started to dominate. A powerful shot from Alena was deflected and the first to react was Messi. He coolly, dinked it over the on-rushing goalkeeper to make it 3-2. It was Messi’s 50th career hattrick .
The Sevilla fans could only smile and hold their heads in disbelief as their chief tormentor was in full flow. But it was yet to be over. In added time, Messi’s perfect pass was met by Luis Suarez who finally scored with a looping effort to make it a baffling 4-2.
It was a very tough loss for Sevilla who were much better than Barcelona especially in the 1st half. The final score-line 4-2 was misleading and does not reflect the true nature of the game.
What was appreciable were the quick changes that Valverde made at half time instead of waiting till eternity. It proved to be the turning point. His tactics were spot on when it came to the substitutions. He should have ideally brought in Alena instead of Coutinho along with the other two.
There are a number of problems to address for FC Barcelona. Valverde needs to come up with proper solutions for the problems including the choice of the right players for the right position. The existing flaws cannot be swept under the shining light of Messi’s scintillating performances.
Luis Saurez needs to be rested as he is woefully out of form. Dembele’s stature is growing with every game. Sadly Coutinho is getting worse with each game. Playing Coutinho (in his current form) would put the entire team at risk.
Later Sevilla’s Ben Yeddar tweeted “In this world, perhaps we would have won the game. But there was a player from another planet who wanted it another way...”
Couldn't agree more.
Image Credits - Google Images
Comments
Post a Comment