LaLiga
Result: FC Barcelona 4-0 Sevilla
Date: 06 October 2019
Venue: Camp Nou
Lionel Messi got his first goal of the season as FC Barcelona thrashed Sevilla 4-0 to move up to second spot in LaLiga on Sunday evening, while they also had two players sent off. Barca made three changes from their win over Inter Milan in the UEFA Champions League, with young defender Jean-Clair Todibo replacing the suspended Clement Lenglet, while Arturo Vidal and Ousmane Dembele took the place of Sergio Busquets and Antoine Griezmann. Sevilla had three good chances in the early stages that all fell to Luuk de Jong but the Dutch striker was first denied by goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen before he failed to hit the target on the other two occasions facing an open net. It took a while for Barca to find their feet, but they eventually broke the deadlock with their first clear opportunity in the 27th minute as Luis Suarez pulled off a stunning overhead kick inside box after a cross from Nelson Semedo. Blaugrana got the second goal five minutes thereafter through the out-streched boot of Vidal, who diverted Arthur's cross after into the back of the net. Dembele added a third for Ernesto Valverde's troops ten minutes before half-time with a well-placed finish past goalkeeper Tomas Vaclik for his first league goal of the campaigm. Julen Lopetegui's men were fired up early in the second stanza, but de Jong should have pulled a goal back three minutes inside the second stanza after latching onto a loose ball inside the box but his low shot came off the post. Valverde needed control in midfield in the last 20 minutes as he brought on Ivan Rakitic in place of Vidal to slow down the tempo of the match, as Sevilla were stretching the game with dangerous attacks. However, Barca secured the fourth goal with 12 minutes remaining after Messi curled home a brilliant free-kick from the edge of the box, leaving Vaclik with no chance. The clash did end on a sour note for the home side as Ronald Araujo was red-carded three minutes before time for denying Javier Hernandez a clear goal-scoring opportunity, before Dembele received his second yellow card for dissent seconds later for dissent.
