SEVILLE: Ten-man Barcelona earned a hard-fought 4-1 win at struggling Sevilla with goals by Robert Lewandowski, Fermin Lopez, Raphinha and Eric Garcia on Sunday to edge closer to the top of La Liga.

The win lifted Hansi Flick’s Barca to 48 points, one behind Atletico Madrid in second and two off leaders Real Madrid after the capital rivals drew 1-1 on Saturday.

“I really appreciate our performance, we did well in the first half and in the second half we fought for these three points,” Flick told DAZN. “We pressed high, the intensity was really good from us... and in the end it was a good lesson to play in a 4-4-1 and defend like that.”

Sevilla, without a win in three league games, are in 13th spot on 28 points.

Lewandowski gave Barcelona the lead from close range in the seventh minute after a short corner routine as Raphinha lifted a cross to the far post where defender Inigo Martinez headed the ball back across goal where the Polish striker was waiting to steer it into the net.

Sevilla were level almost instantly, with Ronald Araujo playing Saul Niguez onside and the Spaniard crossed for Ruben Vargas to turn home a minute later.

Lopez came off the bench and put Barca in front again two minutes after the break with a towering header from a brilliant cross by Pedri and Raphinha extended their lead in the 55th minute with a brilliant strike from outside the box.

Five minutes later, the visitors were reduced to 10 men when Lopez was shown a straight red card for a studs-up challenge on Djibril Sow, but they held off Sevilla and managed to score their fourth through Eric Garcia’s header in the 89th minute.

Valencia climbed to 18th, with Alaves dropping to 19th after a 1-0 defeat at home against Getafe.

Espanyol, 16th, were left only one point above the drop zone after a 2-1 defeat at Real Sociedad.

Published in Dawn, February 11th, 2025