(Football news) Second placed Sevilla dropped two points at home against Barcelona as Xavi’s team couldn't manage to end their disastrous year with a win. Sevilla on the other hand will be content with a draw considering that they played the last 36 minutes with 10 men. The game was massively influenced by heavy rain throughout the 90 minutes.
The game was evenly balanced at the start as Frenkie De Jong had a header saved by Sevilla keeper Yassine Bounou. Sevilla striker Rafa Mir scored a goal that was correctly flagged offside. Ousmane Dembélé had a shot saved by Bounou just before Sevilla won a corner at the other end and broke the deadlock. It was a properly worked training ground routine where Ivan Rakitic put in a low grounded pass into no man's land where Alejandro Gomez came out of nowhere to slot it into the far post. Just when it looked like Sevilla would be going into the break with a 1 goal lead, Ronald Araujo rose highest to head home Dembélé's corner seconds before half time.
In the 2nd half, Thomas Delaney had two chances from a corner but failed to hit the target on both occasions. The turning point of the 2nd half was when Jordi Alba nudged Jules Kounde in the back twice before the Frenchman lost his cool and launched the ball at Alaba's face before a throw-in which resulted in Kounde being shown a straight red card immediately. Despite going down to 10 men, Sevilla never looked like conceding as Barcelona didn't create any big chances apart from one in the 84th minute when Dembélé hit the post.
The Blaugrana have won only 3 of their 9 games under Xavi in all competitions. The situation at the club is very bad due to multiple reasons. The major reason without a doubt is the amount of injuries they have faced. At this moment in time, Barcelona are missing 8 first team players. They have a break till January to regroup and prepare for a rigorous fixture list. President Joan Laporta has already confirmed that Barcelona will be looking to sign new players in January which is good news for Xavi. Sevilla on the other hand are doing well in the League as they sit 2nd on table just 5 points behind Real Madrid.
