A Heavy Defeat for Barcelona in Seville

Barcelona, the defending La Liga champions, suffered a heavy 4-1 defeat against hosts Sevilla, handing them their first loss of the season in the Spanish league, as part of match week 8.

This defeat pushed Barça away from the top spot in favor of their arch-rivals Real Madrid, who beat Villarreal 3-1 on Saturday.

Real Madrid now sit on 21 points compared to Barcelona’s 19, while Sevilla climbed to sixth place with 13 points.

Barcelona had also fallen at home against French side Paris Saint-Germain 1-2 last Tuesday in the UEFA Champions League, despite the many absences in the Parisian squad, most notably Ballon d’Or winner Ousmane Dembélé, along with wingers Désiré Doué and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, and Brazilian center-back and team captain Marquinhos, all due to injury.

Former Barcelona striker, the experienced Chilean Alexis Sánchez, opened the scoring for Sevilla from the penalty spot after a foul committed by Uruguayan defender Ronald Araújo (13’).

Isaac Romero added the second goal for the Andalusian side with a low shot following a counterattack (36’), before Englishman Marcus Rashford pulled one back in stoppage time of the first half with a left-footed strike after a brilliant pass from Pedri.

Barcelona pressed hard for an equalizer in the second half and were awarded a penalty, which their Polish striker Robert Lewandowski stepped up to take, only to fire wide of the target (76’). Swedish youngster Roony Bardghji then squandered two easy chances late in the match, before the hosts sealed the victory with two late goals from José Ángel Carmona (90’) and Nigerian striker Akor Adams (90+6’).

Meanwhile, Real Betis climbed to fourth place after returning from Espanyol with a 2-1 victory.

Although Espanyol opened the scoring through Pol Lozano (25’), the visitors turned the game around in the second half thanks to goals from Colombian Juan Hernández (55’) and Moroccan Abde Ezzalzouli (63’), before Javier Puado missed a chance to salvage a point for Espanyol when he failed to convert a penalty (90+13’).

Atlético Madrid failed to build on their three consecutive wins in all competitions, stumbling to a 1-1 draw with hosts Celta Vigo.

Diego Simeone’s men paid the price for French defender Clément Lenglet’s dismissal after a second yellow card in the 40th minute, despite taking the lead through a Celta own goal scored by Swedish defender Carl Starfelt (6’). They later conceded an equalizer to substitute Iago Aspas (68’).

Atlético raised their tally to 13 points in fifth place, while Celta Vigo sit in 16th place with 6 points.

Alavés returned to winning ways with a late 3-1 victory over visitors Elche.

The hosts’ goals were scored by substitute Carlos Vicente (76’, penalty), Toni Martínez (81’), and Argentine Lucas Boyé (90+5’), while Portuguese striker André Silva netted Elche’s only goal (90+3’). Elche played with ten men after Austrian defender David Affengruber was sent off in the 79th minute.

Alavés, who earned their third win of the season, climbed to 11 points in tenth place, while Elche, who suffered their first defeat, remained on 13 points in seventh place.

Real Sociedad’s poor season continued as they suffered their fifth loss, this time at home against Rayo Vallecano, who grabbed a late winner through veteran Uruguayan Alfonso Espino (84’).