At Estadi Olimpic Lluis Companys on Friday night, Barcelona defeated Sevilla 1-0 in a hard-fought victory to retake the lead in the La Liga standings.
Sevilla Lose Despite Hardwork
Barça had several opportunities to score but lacked the finishing touch in front of goal to convert them. In the end, Barcelona won the match thanks to an own goal by former Real Madrid captain Sergio Ramos. It gave the Catalan’s their deserved victory against Sevilla.
Only twice in the twenty-first century has Barcelona won a La Liga match by a score of 1-0. The other occasion was against Mallorca in April 2007, when Fernando Navarro scored his own goal.
Sergio Ramos has previously scored two own goals in La Liga, both times against Sevilla while playing for Real Madrid.
The outcome also meant that, since a 1-2 loss at Sevilla in October 2015, Barça is now unbeaten in 16 La Liga meetings against Sevilla (W12 D4), with a clean sheet in each of the past four.
Strong Defense
Barcelona was able to keep a clean sheet against Sevilla after giving up two careless goals in the previous week’s game against Mallorca.
Jules Kounde’s return to the starting lineup, where he has been playing well thus far after being switched to his favorite position at center back, occurred at the same time.
In fact, no opponent has been able to dribble past Kounde in the 732 minutes he has spent on the pitch in all competitions this season.
Lamine Show
After starting the game, Lamine Yamal continued to be a key player against Sevilla. Sergio Ramos’ deflection of Yamal’s header into the goal gave Barcelona the victory.
The youngster became the youngest player in La Liga history to start four games. He made his fourth La Liga start of the year.
