Barca Handed First-Leg Copa Semis Loss
11 February, 2021
Result: Sevilla 2-0 FC Barcelona
Date: 10 February 2021
Venue: Ramon Sanchez-Pizjuan Stadium
Ivan Rakitic netted against his ex - side as Sevilla defeated FC Barcelona 2-0 found in the primary leg of their Copa del Rey semi-last on Wednesday night.
Oscar Mingueza partnered Samuel Umtiti at the back even while Lionel Messi, Frenkie De Jong and Pedri were recalled from the make an impression on Real Betis on Sunday.
Messi went near bagging the opening aim after 13 minutes seeing that the Argentine latched onto Antoine Greizmann's lofted move before seeing his hit saved by Yassine Bonou.
While Barcelona were unable to create their dominance count, Sevilla broke the deadlock on 25 a few minutes as Jules Kounde were able to skip past Umtit before firing past Marc-Andre ter Stegen.
The target looked to have taken the life out of Barcelona, who struggled to carve out any longer openings in the first half while the visitors had Ter Stegen was called after to keep out Sergio Escudero on the stroke of halftime.
Messi came to life in the next half just as he drifted former two players before selecting De Jong who laid it back to the Argentine, but Bonou was readily available to make the save well on 54 minutes.
The frustration commenced to grow for the visitors as Messi fired wide in the 71st minute before Ousmane Dembele went close with an attempt from distance 5 minutes later.
However, Sevilla continued to double their lead in the 85th minute mainly because Rakitic made not any mistake in a one-on-one circumstances with Ter Stegen following the Barcelona defence had been caught napping.
Both goals were more than enough to silence Barcelona, who'll now mind to the next leg with a large job on the hands.
Source: www.soccerladuma.co.za