Result: Sevilla 2-0 FC Barcelona
Date: 10 February 2021
Venue: Ramon Sanchez-Pizjuan Stadium
Ivan Rakitic netted against his former side as Sevilla defeated FC Barcelona 2-0 in the first leg of their Copa del Rey semi-final on Wednesday night.
Oscar Mingueza partnered Samuel Umtiti at the back while Lionel Messi, Frenkie De Jong and Pedri were recalled from the win over Real Betis on Sunday.
Messi went close to bagging the opening goal after 13 minutes as the Argentine latched onto Antoine Greizmann's lofted pass before seeing his strike saved by Yassine Bonou.
While Barcelona were unable to make their dominance count, Sevilla broke the deadlock on 25 minutes as Jules Kounde managed to skip past Umtit before firing past Marc-Andre ter Stegen.
The goal looked to have taken the life out of Barcelona, who struggled to carve out any more openings in the first half while the visitors had Ter Stegen was called upon to keep out Sergio Escudero on the stroke of halftime.
Messi came to life in the second half as he drifted past two players before picking out De Jong who laid it back to the Argentine, but Bonou was on hand to make the save on 54 minutes.
The frustration began to grow for the visitors as Messi fired wide in the 71st minute before Ousmane Dembele went close with an effort from distance five minutes later.
However, Sevilla went on to double their lead in the 85th minute as Rakitic made no mistake in a one-on-one situation with Ter Stegen after the Barcelona defence were caught napping.
The two goals were enough to silence Barcelona, who will now head to the second leg with a big job on their hands.
