Football Update: Match Review – Barcelona vs. Sevilla
If there is one team that has made an impact on the “styles of play,” in recent times, it is definitely the Spanish team, Barcelona. Barca’s current coach, Pep Guardiola is a former Barcelona player and used to play as a midfielder. He was famous for his amazing through balls just like Xavi Hernandez. Guardiola, however, was a better version of Xavi.
This weekend Barcelona had to travel to Sevilla’s home to face them in the first leg of the Super Cup. It was a chance for the Catalan giants to at least draw the match, so that they can save a win for their home, Camp Nou. Barcelona were going through many problems when it came down to their squad. The 8 players that were a part of the Spanish squad in the friendly match against Mexico were on rest and did not manage to make it to the match. With 8 key players not playing for Barcelona, it was hard for the Spanish Giants to win the match.
The Catalan coach, Pep Guardiola, decided to send out an experimental team and thought that they “might” be good enough to hold the Sevillan players and end the match as a draw. The match kicked off and only Dani Alves, Eric Abidal and Zlatan Ibrahimovic were the three players who were a part of the starting line-up and the best 11 of Barcelona. Lionel Messi was left on the bench because he had to go to Argentina with their match against the republic of Ireland.
The match took a slow start and all the Barcelona players started off with their tiki-taka style of play and tried to tire the opposition. Sevilla had their best 11 playing as Luis Fabiano and Jesus Navas, both, were a part of the starting line-up of Sevilla. Barcelona started the match with Mino, as their new goalkeeper as Pinto suffered an injury only a day before the match. Abidal and Dani Alves took the left and right flanks at the back with Gabriel Milito and Sergi Gomez in as Central defenders. Romeu and Keita were playing as holding midfielders, as they were helping Jonathan in the mid and Maxwell as a left midfielder. Ibrahimovic and Bojan were the two strikers for the team, as Ibrahimovic was in more of a “soul striking” role and Bojan was more on the right flank to assist him with crosses.
Barcelona started the game with flying colours and moved the ball around until Maxwell found his former Inter Milan team mate in the 18 yard box and gave a wonderful through ball to him. Zlatan did not make a single mistake and flicked the ball inside the goal with his toe. The young Barcelona started celebrating as they were winning over a full Sevillan on their home and they just came here for a draw but now they were winning the match. Barcelona’s whole idea was to feed Ibrahimovic with long or through balls so that he could end them inside the net. This idea, however, didn’t work too well after the first goal as Fazio had Zlatan totally covered and he couldn’t move a muscle as he was “man marked” perfectly.
Sevilla on the other hand, were playing their best 11, with Palop as their goalkeeper and Konko and Fazio as the centre backs to help him with the defence. Escude and Dabo were the two players who used to make runs from the flanks to assist their strikers with goals and used to run back to help the centre backs. Navas and Zakora were the two wingers as Romaric and Perotti were holding the centre midfield. Luis Fabiano was playing as the soul striker for the club and was trying to create chances for his team. With an early lead taken by Barcelona, the home team was trying to get its momentum back and they eventually did, but in the second half.
After the first half, Antonio Alvarez changed a few things round for his team to perform well. Gigarini took Romaric’s place in the mid to help Fabiano with a few assists. The change turned out to be useful, as Fabiano was able to score a goal in the 62nd minute to make the score line even for the both sides. Later on Renato was taken off and Kanoute was introduced onto the pitch so that the team has an “extra striker.” This change changed the whole story of the match, as Kanoute was able to score two goals to seal the deal for the Spanish underdogs. Later on, Lionel Messi was introduced, as Ibrahimovic went off but the change came too late for the Barcelona giants.
Now, Barcelona are going to face Sevilla at Camp Nou but this time the Catalan giants would be fully prepared, as all the 8 members of the Spanish team and Lionel Messi are going to be a part of the match to help Barcelona win the first title of this season.
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