
OneFootball
Joel Sanderson-Murray·19 June 2020
Our 3️⃣ points as Barcelona drop points in LaLiga title race

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Joel Sanderson-Murray·19 June 2020
Barcelona have handed the title initiative to Real Madrid after drawing 0-0 with Sevilla.
Here are our main takeaways from the game …
So, it’s Barcelona who drop points first in the title race.
Both Barça and Real Madrid have won both their games since the restart as the template for the title run-in looked to have been set.
The Blaugrana went into the match two points ahead of their nearest rivals with fate very much in their own hands.
The picture may well have changed now though.
Real will now go top if they beat Real Sociedad on Sunday.
Sevilla away was always going to be a tricky fixture for Barcelona and so it proved to be, but could it be costly?
The visitors were lucky to get away with a draw in the end as Sevilla really stepped up in the second half.
Marc-Andre ter Stegen produced a stunning point-blank save to deny Lucas Ocampos and somehow Sergio Reguilón failed to score from six yards out in stoppage time.
Eight games to go.
Barça have stumbled first, but it could’ve been much, much worse.
Sevilla were hellbent on making this game a battle of the fists, rather than the feet.
Julen Lopetegui’s side went out to disrupt Barcelona’s flow from the first whistle and for a large majority of the game it worked.
The hosts committed eight fouls in the first-half alone and the longer the match went on, the more they brought Barça down to their level.
The more riled Barcelona got.
It led to scenes at the end of the first-half that would be referred to by the commentator as unsavoury even though you’re absolutely loving every minute of it.
A foul on Luis Suàrez resulted in handbags between both sets of players, with even Messi getting involved.
Barça’s main man then shoved Sevilla defender Diego Carlos to the floor in the midst of it all.
Only Sergio Busquets and Fernando came away with yellow cards from the melee, but was Messi lucky to escape red?
Much has been made of home advantage not being a factor in games played behind closed doors.
Supporters hounding the opposition and boosting the hosts by 20% has a genuine effect which levels out the playing field between teams with different qualities.
Tonight was one of the perfect test to see how big that difference is.
Sevilla are usually formiddable at home, and although the Ramon Sanchez-Pizjuan hasn’t been a fortress as much this season, they’ve still lost just twice here in LaLiga in 2019/20.
Barcelona found it difficult, even without 40,000 Sevilla supporters baying for their blood.
Quique Setién’s side are of course a class above Lopetegui’s men, but Sevilla raised their game tonight and closed that gap on the pitch for 90 minutes.
This would’ve been a fixture Barça fans will have looked at during the run-in as a game they could potentially drop points in.
And so it turned out that way.
With Real Madrid still to travel to face Real Sociedad and Athletic Club, Setién will hope that home advantage proves to be a thing after all.
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