Sevilla vs. Barcelona: Winners and Losers from La Liga Game
Barcelona's away trip to Sevilla proved to be as difficult as advertised on Saturday, as the Spanish league leaders were held to a 2-2 draw by Unai Emery's side.
Lionel Messi and Neymar scored to give Barcelona a two-goal lead with glorious individual strikes, but the home side hit back through Ever Banega (with a powerful strike) and Kevin Gameiro (six minutes from time) to clinch a valuable share of the spoils.
The result means Barcelona are now only two points clear of Real Madrid at the top of the table, while Sevilla remain firmly in the thick of the battle for the remaining Champions League spots.
Click on for some winners and losers from the game.
Winner: Unai Emery
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Sevilla manager Unai Emery will be happy with how Saturday panned out for him and his Sevilla side: Not only did they claim a draw against the league leaders, but Atletico Madrid's draw against Malaga meant they lost no ground in the race for third either.
At the start of the day, Emery will undoubtedly have hoped things would pan out that way, but he will have been realistic enough to acknowledge that there was a reasonable chance that his resurgent side would suffer a knock to their short-term ambitions. Instead, their hunger and organisation was on display, as they bounced back from two wonderful Barcelona goals to claim a draw.
Sevilla still have to host Real Madrid later in the season, but beyond that, they have a series of winnable games between now and the end of the season.
Emery will be buoyed by what he saw from his team on Saturday and hopeful they can now take advantage of Atletico's missed opportunity and push on in pursuit of that third-place finish.
Loser: Gerard Pique
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After convincing everyone of his restored brilliance following a series of assured, dominant displays for Barcelona in recent weeks, a slip from Gerard Pique enabled Sevilla to steal a point on Saturday—depriving Barcelona of a potentially significant victory.
Pique's mistakes directly contributed to Kevin Gameiro's late equaliser, as he needlessly gave the ball away and then failed to recover in time; Aleix Vidal taking advantage of the errors to fire the ball across for the substitute to turn home.
Afterward, Sergio Busquets insisted that the mistake was not Pique's alone, but the whole team's. Per Canal+ (via Mundo Spanish), he added:
"Fair or not, the result is what you get and now we have to move on.
It hurts because we are leaders and we wanted the three points to continue our position. But we knew that Sevilla have gone almost a year without losing at home—they are a great team and are in their best moment of the season.
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With the situation as it is at the top of the table in Spain, Barcelona desperately needed to see out the final 10 minutes and secure the win, clearing one of the significant hurdles that remain in their pursuit of the title. But Pique's untimely mistake meant that was not to be—and in the process he attracted more criticism following an uneven season.
Pique will doubtless be eager to make amends over the coming games.
Winner: Real Madrid
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Having won their game earlier in the day against Eibar, Real Madrid got exactly what they were wishing for as Barcelona dropped points later in the afternoon. The result brings the title race firmly back into the balance.
Of course, a Barcelona defeat would have been even more gratefully received, but the draw is more than good enough—with Real only two points behind now and in possession of the tiebreaker (having won "on aggregate" in the head-to-head meetings), another Barcelona draw from here on will give Carlo Ancelotti's side the chance to return to the top of the table.
Obviously, that requires them to be perfect from now until the end of the league campaign, something which is far from certain (they still have to visit the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan). But Barcelona's margin of error just closed dramatically, and Real Madrid will take huge confidence and momentum from this weekend's swing in their favour.
Winner: Kevin Gameiro
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Kevin Gameiro may have struggled to supplant Carlos Bacca as the club's preferred striking option during their time together at Sevilla (in fairness, it would be hard for anyone to oust the prolific Colombian), but he proved his own worth with the vital equalising goal on Saturday.
He may have been gifted the opportunity somewhat by Gerard Pique, but the Frenchman nevertheless underlined his goalscoring credentials with the way he took the opportunity.
As European football writer Andy Brassell points out, he now averages a goal every 75 minutes in La Liga this season—a record that puts him between Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi at the top of the standings.
Of course, both those players play almost every minute of every game, whereas Gameiro is making his impact off the substitutes' bench. But interventions like Saturday's, and a goalscoring record like the one he has this season, will keep him in the minds of many teams—ensuring he has a number of options should he decide he wants more playing time come the end of the campaign.
Winner: Ivan Rakitic
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The result will have been a disappointment to Ivan Rakitic, but the night will have been one of a certain individual satisfaction, as the former Sevilla player was afforded a generous welcome on his return to his old stamping ground.
The respect and appreciation the Sevilla fans had for the Croatian was in evidence, especially at the final whistle, as he walked off to a respectable round of applause.
Such moments are always touching for the professional, and Rakitic will doubtless remember the reception he received for a long time—even if he will be quick to forget the disappointing result.
