Barcelona made it nine wins from their first ten La Liga games of the season on Sunday evening by thumping Sevilla 5-1 at Olimpic Lluis Companys Stadium.
Braces from Robert Lewandowski and substitute Pablo Torre as well as a thunderous strike from Pedri were enough to secure a comfortable win for Barca, who head into the first El Clasico of the 2024/25 La Liga season in fine form.
The result leaves Barca three points clear of arch rivals Real Madrid after Gameweek 10.
How the game unfolded
Barcelona were utterly dominant throughout the opening exchanges, but were kept at bay by a stoic Sevilla defence up until the 21st minute.
Then, the Sevilla defence finally wilted under the pressure. Raphinha was dragged to the ground by Gerard Fernandez inside the penalty area, and Robert Lewandowski would obviously make no mistake from the resulting spot kick – sending the goalkeeper the wrong way to make it 1-0 and chalk up his 13th goal of the season already.
Soon after it was 2-0.
The second would come from Pedri, who finished off a lovely sweeping Barca move by lashing the ball into the top corner of the net after being found by Lamine Yamal on the edge of the box. A stunning goal all round.
It probably should’ve been three in the 35th minute when Yamal played a wonderful through ball into the path of the clinical Lewandowski inside the penalty box. Rather surprisingly, after controlling well, Lewa saw his subsequent effort by saved by Orjan Nyland in the Sevilla goal.
Lewandowski would make amends just three minutes later, reacting quickly to flick a foot at a Raphinha effort from the edge of the box to net his second, and Barca’s third, of the game.
Yamal nearly added a stunning fourth at the start of the second half, forcing Nyland into a decent save with a trivela effort from the edge of the box. Raphinha though he had added a fourth moments later after racing through and firing into the bottom corner of the net, however he was offside in the lead up to scoring and the goal was rightly ruled out.
The fourth eventually, deservedly came in the final ten minutes of the game. This time Jules Kounde was the provider from the right flank, finding substitute Pablo Torre with a cut-back cross before the youngster saw a deflected effort nestle in the net.
The final, and biggest, cheer of the night from the Catalan crowd was saved for Gavi’s return to action after nearly a full year out of action with injury. The youngster came on for the final five minutes of the game.
Sevilla would manage to get one goal back before the full-time whistle, with youngster Stanis Idumbo Muzambo rushing onto a long ball before racing into the penalty area and firing home his first ever La Liga goal.
Barca’s lead wouldn’t be reduced for too long though, as Torre popped up with his second of the game, seeing a set piece delivery from the right flank go the whole way across goal and nestle in the bottom corner of the net.
GK: Inaki Pena – 5/10 – Made hard work of the very little he had to do on the night.
RB: Jules Kounde – 7/10 – Set up the fourth of the game and was a constant offensive threat on the right flank.
CB: Pau Cubarsi – 7/10 – Barely put a foot wrong, as his 98% pass completion rate attests.
CB: Inigo Martinez – 7/10 – Classy outing once again for the defender.
LB: Alejandro Balde – 6/10 – Looked back to his best on Sunday. He’s slowly ramping up after a lengthy period on the sidelines.
CM: Pedri – 8/10 – Scored a stunning goal in the first half and barely put a foot wrong thereafter either.
CM: Marc Casado – 6/10 – Kept things ticking over in midfield by completing 90% of his passes.
RM: Lamine Yamal – 8/10 – As effective as ever on the right flank, Yamal bagged his sixth assist of the season with a clever cut-back pass to Pedri for Barca’s second.
AM: Raphinha – 7/10 – The captain for the game put in a typical 2024/25 Raphinha performance, causing plenty of problems with his clever movement and use of the ball.
LM: Ansu Fati – 5/10 – His first Barca start in a very, very long time and he didn’t do much to make the most of it, looking a bit off the pace at times.
ST: Robert Lewandowski – 9/10 – Was simply unplayable in the first half, scoring his 13th and 14th goals of the season and linking up play expertly. He’s still one of the best around.
Substitutes
SUB: Pau Victor (65′ for Lewandowski) – 6/10
SUB: Fermin Lopez (65′ for Raphinha) – 6/10
SUB: Gerard Martin (76′ for Yamal) – 6/10
SUB: Pablo Torre (76′ for Fati) – 8/10 – Came on and scored two. You can’t ask for much more than that.
SUB: Gavi (85′ for Pedri) – N/A
Manager – Hansi Flick – 7/10 – Barcelona look 10x they team they did under Xavi Hernandez last season, and a lot of that is down to the positive influence that Hansi Flick has had on the squad.
Player of the match: Robert Lewandowski (Barcelona)
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