Barcelona was held to a goalless draw by Sevilla in La Loga on Friday at the empty Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan Stadium. It was Barca’s first winless result since the resumption of Spain’s top-flight competition after a gap of almost three months due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Barcelona, as expected, started the match on the front foot and outraged Sevilla with a host of attacks. They breached Sevilla’s backline at will and easily got the ball inside the box. However, they failed to produce the finishing product.
The Catalan giants missed a flurry of chances to get the breakthrough. Veteran Lionel Messi had come closest to give his team the lead when his first-half free-kick was cleared on the line by defender Jules Kounde, denying the Argentine great to score his 700 goals for club and country.
Sevilla’s determined defence put a display of valour as they successfully tamed Messi throughout the match. The six-time Ballon d’Or winner had scored in the previous two games of Barcelona since La Liga’s return.
Barcelona’s go-to striker Luis Suarez, who benefitted from the stoppage of the league and recovered from the injury he had suffered, failed to create much impact despite returning to the starting line-up of Quique Setien.
The draw by table-toppers Barcelona has given Real Madrid a chance to get level with them who are now trailing by three points at second. Sevilla, meanwhile, held their third position with a 10 point deficit with Real Madrid.
However, Barca coach Setien was not deterred by the result and said that the league was far from over. “We knew beforehand that it would be difficult to win all the games left, practically impossible, and that this was one of the toughest matches we faced,” Setién said as quoted by AP.
“It is frustration of the moment. (…) I am sure (Pique) will feel different tomorrow, and I am sure that Madrid will drop points, too. We have to be optimistic.”