A Sergio Ramos own goal saw Barcelona narrowly beat Sevilla to regain first place in LaLiga.
Barcelona looked like they had nothing to do in the first half. João Félix cleared the crossbar after a slick pass from João Cancelo, but the visitors couldn’t create it.
For all the world it looked like Sevilla would escape Barcelona with a valuable point, but luck didn’t seem to be on their side.
Defending deep in his own half, a dribbled ball to the back post found the head of Lamin Yamal, whose nod was deflected into the net by an onrushing Sergio Ramos.
An unfortunate own goal was all Barcelona needed to grab the three points to regain top spot in LaLiga.
Barcelona player ratings
GK: Marc-Andre ter Stegen – 6/10 – Made a few notable saves in the first half.
RB: Joao Cancelo – 7/10 – Barca’s danger man at times in the first half. Not as involved in the second but defended well throughout.
CB: Jules Kounde – 7/10 – Made a stunning recovery clearance late in the game. He’s one of the best around right now.
CB: Andreas Christensen – 6/10 – A solid outing for the ex-Chelsea man.
LB: Alejandro Balde – 6/10 – Got forward well, particularly early in the game.
CM: Raphinha – 6/10 – Played 35 minutes in an unfamiliar role and had his moments before being subbed off with an injury.
CM: Gavi – 8/10 – The midfielder was basically omnipresent on the tv screen for the 90 minutes. A busy, and strong, performance.
CM: Ilkay Gundogan – 6/10 – Tidy in a deeper role than he’s used to playing.
RW: Lamine Yamal – 7/10 – It’s ridiculous how talented he is. Showed that talent in bursts throughout, ultimately assisting Barca’s winning goal.
ST: Robert Lewandowski – 6/10 – Had a few sighters at the start of the second half but ultimately didn’t find the back of the net on Friday evening.
LW: Joao Felix – 5/10 – Missed the best chance of the first half, hitting the crossbar when one-on-one with Nyland.
Substitutes
SUB: Fermin Lopez (35′ for Raphinha) – 7/10 – Provided Barcelona with a real spark in the middle of the park when he was introduced. He nutmegged basically the whole Sevilla team twice over.
SUB: Ferran Torres (71′ for Felix) – 6/10 – His brilliant cross-field ball counted as the pre-assist for Ramos’ own goal.
SUB: Oriol Romeu (83′ for Yamal) – N/A.
Subs not used: Inigo Martinez, Marcos Alonso, Ronald Araujo, Sergi Roberto, Ander Astralaga, Inaki Pena.
Manager – Xavi Hernandez – 6/10 – The midfield trio that Xavi started with was a bit odd, and they looked much more assured when an actual midfielder (Fermin Lopez) was introduced for the injured Raphinha.