Madrid: Sevilla on Wednesday evening played an intelligent game against a rival missing several key players and was able to soak up pressure in attack, reports Xinhua news agency.
Barcelona coach Ronald Koeman produced a surprise in his starting 11, using Junior Firpo as a right-back and moving Oscar Mingueza into central defense. Both Pedro and Leo Messi, who has scored 37 goals against Sevilla, were back among the starters.
Sevilla missed the injured Lucas Ocampos, who was replaced by recent signing Alejandro Gomez, while Ivan Rakitic lined up against his former club.
Sevilla started slowly and Bono made a fine save when Messi was one on one with the Sevilla goalkeeper before the home side began to get into the game and defender Jules Kounde opened the scoring with a fine individual move that saw him slip the ball past Samuel Umtiti and beat Marc Andre Ter Stegen with a diagonal shot.
Ter Stegen was back in action before halftime with an excellent save to deny Sergio Escudero a second goal for Sevilla after the full back’s long-range shot.
Barcelona looked to take a step forward at the start of the second half and Bono got down to save a shot from Messi from the edge of the area, before punching away a dangerous corner from Ousmane Dembele.
