SEVILLE: Sevilla took full advantage of Lionel Messi’s absence, producing a brilliant second-half display to beat Barcelona 2-0 in their Copa del Rey quarter-final first leg on Wednesday to leave the holders with an uphill task to reach the last four.

After an even first 45 minutes, strikes from Pablo Sarabia and Wissam Ben Yedder stunned the Catalans to give Sevilla a big edge in the rematch of last year’s final, which Barca won for their fourth straight Copa title. Sevilla also lost the 2016 final to their Catalan rivals.

The second leg will be next week in Barcelona, when the hosts are expected to have Messi and the other regular starters who were rested in Seville.

“When you make changes you take risks,” Barca coach Ernesto Valverde said. “But I don’t regret it, it’s what had to be done. Last season we paid the price for our participation in the Copa. This year we think it’s best to make more changes.”

It was the first time Barca failed to score since a 3-0 loss to AS Roma that eliminated the team from the Champions League last season, 39 matches ago.

A much-changed Barca, who earlier in the day announced the signing of Frenkie de Jong from Ajax Amsterdam, handed a debut to loan signing Kevin-Prince Boateng. Yet Messi was left at home while forward Luis Suarez and club-record signing Philippe Coutinho were only named on the bench as they struggled.

Sarabia opened the scoring with a volley from inside the area in the 58th minute after a cross by Quincy Promes, and Ben Yedder sealed the victory in the 76th with a close-range touch after Ever Banega’s low shot took a deflection.

“We played a great game, it’s a shame it doesn’t settle the tie,” said Sevilla coach Pablo Machin. “In Barcelona, anything can happen. They have turned around bigger defeats than this.”

Barca are defending their Copa title despite allegedly using a suspended player against Levante in the round-of-16. The Catalan club were not disqualified because Levante’s complaint to the Spanish football federation missed a deadline. A subsequent appeal by Levante to a sports tribunal was dismissed on Wednesday.

Published in Dawn, January 25th, 2019