Barcelona will enter the international break in second place in the rankings, having lost their unbeaten streak in La Liga 4-1 away to Sevilla at the Ramón Sánhez-Pizjuán on Sunday afternoon.
Barcelona performed probably their worst game of the whole Hansi Flick era, and they rightfully lost to an inspired Sevilla team that exploited every potential flaw in the Blaugrana to dominate the game and take all three points at home.
The start of the game was about as terrible as we’ve seen from Hansi Flick’s club in his tenure, with Barcelona looking helpless both with and without the ball.
They had no attacking threat, and their defense was vulnerable and desperate, so Sevilla took advantage and played exceptionally well to begin the game.
The home team also benefited from a genuinely horrible refereeing decision, as Isaac Romero threw himself to the ground inside the box during a tangle with Ronald Araujo, and the referee was summoned to the screen by VAR, where he somehow found a way to award a penalty that never, ever occurred.
Alexis Sánchez scored from the penalty against his former team, giving Sevilla the lead after 15 minutes.
Barça failed to respond to the opener, and Sevilla’s dominance got even stronger, with the hosts simply finding gaps behind the Blaugrana offside trap, resulting in numerous great scoring opportunities.
If it hadn’t been for Wojciech Szczesny’s outstanding saves and some poor finishing by the hosts, Barça would have been down by three or four goals within the first half-hour, and they were extremely fortunate to lose 1-0 after 30 of their worst minutes.
However, Sevilla added another goal on the counter when Rubén Vargas evaded the offside trap and gave Romero an easy tap-in at the far post, ensuring Barça’s defeat.
The Catalans eventually woke up and gave themselves a lifeline shortly before halftime when Pedri’s exquisite cross found Marcus Rashford, who scored a magnificent volley to put Barcelona ahead.
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The Catalans’ awful opening period came to an end with the halfway whistle, but they still had a slim chance of completing the comeback provided they could improve on their dismal first-half performance.
At halftime, Hansi Flick made two changes: Eric Garcia and Alejandro Balde replaced Araujo and Gerard Martín. The Blaugrana were more composed on the ball and more structured in the rear, and Sevilla’s counter-attacking danger was reduced.
The home team still had moments of danger and had another penalty call for a probable handball by Balde inside the area, but the referee did not gesture to the spot this time.
Adnan Januzaj drew Balde to the ground in the 75th minute, resulting in a penalty for Robert Lewandowski, and Barça squandered a good opportunity to equalize.
Barça had another great chance to tie the game when Roony Bardghji dribbled past a couple of players and found himself alone in front of the goalie, but his shot was feeble and went straight at Vlachodimos.
In the 90th minute, José Ángel Carmona scored a low strike to seal the win for the hosts, ending Barça’s comeback attempt. Roony had another chance but shot straight at the goalkeeper.
There was still time for Sevilla to celebrate when Chidera Ejuke was sent through on the counter and provided Akor Adams with the easiest of tap-ins to turn Barcelona’s defeat into a disgrace.
The final whistle brought an end to a terrible afternoon for the Catalans, who not only lost first place in the league but also looked as dreadful as we’ve seen since Hansi Flick took over.
If the PSG loss was horrible, this was far worse. During the international break, there is a lot of soul-searching to be done, and this awful week comes to a close in the worst possible way.
