BARCELONA: Sevilla’s energetic defending ensured Ronald Koeman’s Barcelona dropped its first points in La Liga on Sunday.

While Sevilla held Barcelona to a 1-1 draw at Camp Nou, Real Madrid went to the top of the standings after Vincius Junior and goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois helped earn a 2-0 victory at Levante.

Barca and Sevilla have a game in hand and trail Real by three points.

Challenging Barca and defending champions Real for the title is not out of the question for Julen Lopetegui’s well-disciplined Sevilla after this performance. A pressure defense anchored by Fernando and Jules Kounde shut down Lionel Messi for long periods and forced Barca into making an unusual number of bad passes.

Luuk de Jong gave Sevilla an early lead and while Philippe Coutinho levelled two minutes later, the visitors were arguably the better side in a frantic contest.

De Jong put Sevilla in front after eight minutes as Barcelona failed to react to a short corner and then failed to clear, the ball sitting up nicely for the striker to smash in.

But the lead lasted less than two minutes, a brilliant, curved ball over the top by Lionel Messi causing panic in the Sevilla defence, where Jesus Navas slid to intercept but only teed up the resurgent Coutinho to finish.

Messi sent a bending shot past the far post and Ansu Fati hit straight at the goalkeeper but Sevilla were the ones in the ascendancy.

Barca struggled to get out from the back under pressure from Sevilla’s high press and Ronald Araujo almost scored an own goal, spared by the post after Youssef En-Nesyri’s run down the left.

For a second straight game, Vincius once again led Real in attack. Courtois protected the advantage when Levante pushed for an equaliser before Karim Benzema scored Real’s second goal on the final kick of the match.

Vincius showed some fine finishing when he curled a right-footed shot inside the far post in the 16th minute.

Courtois made an excellent save in the second half when he used his foot to parry a deflected shot that caught him falling the wrong way.

Rodrigo Ely’s goal gave Alaves their first win, a 1-0 victory over Athletic Bilbao, who have gone scoreless in three of four matches.

Cadiz extended their promising return to the top flight by coming back for a 1-1 draw with Granada.

Osasuna bounced back from two losses by beating Celta Vigo 2-0 at home.

Published in Dawn, October 6th, 2020