In what seemed a déjà vu, FC Barcelona on Saturday night could not keep their lead against a relaxed, thirsty-to-win Sevilla team. The game against Sevilla reminds Barcelona fans of a bitter Champions League semi-final against Mourinho’s Inter Milan which was played last April: after taking the lead early in the game, Barcelona lost track and eventually lost 3-1. The reasons back then where attributed to the tiredness of the team players after a 14 hours bus-drive, a reason that surely was not the factor behind why the Blaugrana lost against Sevilla in the first leg of the Spanish Super Cup at the Sanchez Pizjuan stadium.
To say that experience won against an amateur Barcelona side, where five Barca B players were in the starting line-up, would be fair enough to excuse the team, but whoever saw the game knows that the lack of experience could not have been the only reason for Barca’s loss!
The starting whistle announced the first official game for both teams in the new season. The first couple minutes witnessed a chaotic, rapid start where the ball was not possessed by any specific team. The possession, however, remained in the midfield as the players struggled to find themselves and to get their games face on.
One obvious weakness that appeared early on, however, was the lack of harmony on Barcelona’s right side between Bojan, who had still not recovered from the Under 21 qualification matches, and Jonathan Dos Santos. While on the other side, the left side was doing all the serious work from which came the first goal after a low cross was played by Maxwell that Ibrahimovic tipped with his right foot putting the ball into the back of the net on the 20th minute of the first half.
Sevilla on the other hand, did not have any serious chances except for one shot taken by Renato which was saved by Barcelona’s promising youth goalkeeper, Miño. The rest of the first half saw an easy game played where the Blaugrana players tried their best to press and create chances, but only a few created a serious danger on Sevilla’s goal, and came out ineffective.
Ideally, a person who saw the first half could have possibly thought that perhaps Messi could take Bojan’s place in order to make the forward line more dangerous than it was in the first half. Another substitution could have possibly included the entrance of Thiago in place of Jonathan Dos Santos. However, Guardiola thought it might be better to take off Ibrahimovic substituting him for Leo Messi on the 52nd minute.
Nine minutes later, Sevilla tied the score to 1-1 after a superb through pass which was missed by Barcelona’s central defenders leaving the chance for Luis Fabiano to score.
The game, thus, underwent a different scenario.
On the 64th minute Kanoute took Renato’s place in order to nourish Sevilla’s midfield and exploit a boost in the players’ morale. Dos Santos, on the other side, was substituted for Thiago.
Unfortunately, things went Sevilla’s way. Kanoute came in with a magical spell that made the whole Sevilla team revive again and play superb football which left Barcelona’s players helpless. It was Kanoute who scored both goals that gave his team the lead and made the score 3-1 for Sevilla. Both goals came from one-two plays between Perotti and Negredo, and Perotti and Navas respectively assisting Kanoute with easy-to-score crosses while Barcelona players were still not fully recovered from the first goal shock! Messi on the other hand was denied a goal which was ruled out as offside. Thus the game ended with a bitter loss that the team has to overcome and prepare itself for in the second leg which will be played at the Camp Nou this coming Saturday.
It is the second time that Barcelona players find themselves behind against Sevilla; the first was in the Spanish Copa del Rey which Sevilla won in an aggregate of 2-2 with away goals advantage. It is also the second time that Barcelona players find themselves in a predicament where they are lagging two goals behind while the second leg is to be played at the Camp Nou; the first was against Inter Milan in the Champions League semi-final. In both cases, the Blaugrana could not turn the table and make things go their way. However, will the third time be lucky and will they then be able to make it and come back from behind?
To speculate on the factors to why the team lost on Saturday is perhaps not going to lead one anywhere. However, it is becoming clearer that there is a certain attitude that the players show after they take the lead; most of the time they don’t try to press and get another goal. Perhaps, also, Guardiola was not successful with the Ibra-Messi substitution, and, moreover, it could be that, really, the experience factor had its key role in the game.
What is known for sure is that the coming Saturday will tell. If Barcelona players took things easily this Saturday, then most probably things will be quite the opposite next week, when, most probably, the first team players will take the responsibility to save their team from a painful loss. Next week’s game will be the final preparation for the start of the new La Liga season.
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