There it is. Back to reality. Barça lose for the first time since the final of the Supercopa in a close battle that didn’t go our way, with Sevilla beating us 2-0. It’s still only the first leg, but it will not be easy to come back from this.
The first half was pretty poor, as we barely created any opportunities. Sevilla, on the other hand, really exploited Messi’s passivity in defence, allowing Jules Koundé to push high up the field all the time. One of those runs resulted in the opener as Samuel Umtiti failed to deal with the Sevilla centre-back. We could have conceded more, but Ter Stegen saved us.
Second Half – Unable to react
We got into the second half with more desire and got pretty close to an equaliser, but there was no cutting edge in the end. To make matters worse, Big Sam made another big error in the dying stages as he kept Rakitic onside and then slipped, letting the former Barça man score against us.
Yet again, Samuel Umtiti proved that he is nowhere near his best in what was more than a poor performance. Oscar Mingueza, on the other hand, had an extremely convincing performance. He proved he should be our first-choice defender in our current situation. What is also annoying is that Ronald Koeman made the changes way too late, allowing neither Riqui nor Trincão to have an impact on the result.
Right before the PSG clash, we at least have a representation of where we are and what to expect. This semifinal is by no means over, provided we can make the right call for our game plan next time.
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