Post Match Review - FC Barcelona Vs Sevilla FC

After the mid-week Champions league loss at the Estadio Guiseppe Meazza Barca returned to league action at the Camp Nou against a newly revamped Sevilla side coached by Unai Emery.Will Barcelona put the defeat away and run a rampant show against Sevilla proving why Barca are considered to be the greatest team of all times ?

Barca starting XI

Jordi Roura rested key players and gave starts to Thiago, Song , Montoya,Alexis , Villa and Mascherano. Meanwhile Dani Alves , Pique , Iniesta ,Valdes and Messi retained their spots. Sevilla came out with their probably best 11 except for leaving Alvaro Negredo in the bench for Baba Diawara as the front man in what appeared to be a 4-3-3 with Manu and the wonderful Jesus Navas providing the pace in the wings.

We all expected Barcelona to run away as easy winners but that did not happen. Atleast not until the half-time break. Sevilla sat deep but still they were not actually playing a parked bus like Milan did and there were still spaces for Barca to exploit. The games first chance came through Lionel Messi as he played Iniesta for a wonderful ball and Iniesta was guilty of taking too much time and eventually his shot was blocked. Meanwhile Alexis looked vibrant with his dribbles early on running at the defense and combining well with Dani alves who was starting to spray in crosses. David Villa left his marker a couple of times but Barca were still rusty and lacked the final touch . Messi soon fired one through his right foot                        

forcing a save from the goal keeper.I might sound blatant but Messi was sloppy with his plays losing possessions and Iniesta was invisible for some time in the first half. Thiago still managed to run and make himself available for passes but he definitely was not running strings like Xavi .And soon Barcelona conceded a goal from free kick and it was a La masia grad Alberto Botia who headed past Victor Valdes after a badly timed jump from Dani alves. Adding to all this Messi wasted 3 good scoring chances from free-kicks at dangerous positions. Barca went into the break a goal down.

El Guaje Back in Action

Jordi Roura made one change in the half time as Alexis was replaced by Christian Tello. David Villa moved further in and Messi started in the right wing. The game's equaliser came through El Gauje as he headed past the goal keeper from an inch perfect Dani alves cross. David Villa did everything right and just showed everyone why he is a different player and why he is Spain's all time top scorer. Tello was causing all types of problems for Koke by teasing him with his pace and dribble. Messi was indeed playing a bad game but one moment of magic as he combined with Tello and scored in his 15 th consecutive league game and 38th goal for the season

Barca XI in the second half

. Unai Emery soon brought in Alvaro Negredo for Baba  and Jordi Roura brought in Xavi and things were coming to the control of Barcelona with the presence of the orchestrator. Alvaro Negredo still fancied a chance with a counter attack which he in an other day would have put inside the net.Busquets came in for Villa as the Camp Nou faithful gave a standing avation . With Busquets and Xavi pullin the strings it was just enough to run the rest of the time safe as Barca inched one step closer to the league title.It was a victory yet unconvincing and if Barca needs to be victorious for the next 20 days Barca need to figure out the missing cog in thier machine.

Man of the match - Introduction of Tello has made the difference in the Second half
Flop of the match - Too harsh but Thiago had a really bad game , lost possession far
                               too easily and didnt make runs into the box was very static.