Barcelona 4-2 Sevilla
La Liga 2018/19
Venue: Camp Nou
Date: Saturday, 20 October
Kick-off time: 7:45pm BST
Lionel Messi was forced off midway through the first half in Barcelona's 4-2 victory over Sevilla at the Nou Camp, making the Argentinian a major doubt for next weekend's El Clasico.
Barcelona ended a run of four domestic games without a win as Philippe Coutinho, Messi, Luis Suarez and Ivan Rakitic found the net, with Pablo Sarabia's deflected strike giving them something to think about late on before Luis Muriel's stoppage-time consolation goal.
Messi had set up the opener before doubling the score, but his evening took a sudden turn for the worse in the 23rd minute when he fell awkwardly under an innocuous challenge from Franco Vazquez.
The medical staff applied heavy strapping to Messi's right arm but very soon he was replaced by Ousmane Dembele to give Barcelona a huge injury concern a week before next weekend's clash against Real Madrid.
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5 mins: Sevilla look to hit back straight away on the break and also manage it, but Guilherme Arana's shot rebounds off the post. It's all happening at Camp Nou!
Well that didn't take long! The Brazilian has the ball in the net inside two minutes in a dream start for Barcelona at Camp Nou...
Nelson Semedo started it off, then Luis Suarez found Messi, who put Coutinho through with a lovely ball and the Brazilian finished first time. A lovely goal!
GOAL | Barcelona 1-0 Sevilla | Philippe Coutinho 2'
KICK-OFF!
We are under way at Camp Nou...
Lionel Messi was La Liga's Player of the Month for September and has been presented with the award before kick-off at Camp Nou...
Barcelona's team tonight is the same as the one that started against Tottenham at Wembley, which is definitely their standout showing in recent weeks.
Ernesto Valverde's side could do with replicating that form in La Liga tonight – especially with Sevilla on such great form.
Barcelona can leapfrog Alaves and Sevilla tonight and claim top spot with a victory, opening up a four-point gap over rivals Real Madrid in the process.
It was another miserable afternoon for Real, who were defeated 2-1 at home to Levante to leave head coach Julen Lopetegui on the ropes.
Lopetegui’s side got off to the worst possible start, with goals from Jose Morales and Roger Marti gave the visitors a shock 2-0 lead after just 13 minutes.
Both teams had goals disallowed by Video Assistant Referee, in addition to Sergio Ramos hitting the crossbar.
Photo: Reuters
Having failed to score in each of their last four matches in all competitions, Real Madrid now find themselves on the worst goal-scoring drought in their history – a run of 481 minutes without a goal.
Left on the bench for the start of the match, Lopetegui turned to Gareth Bale and Karim Benzema in the second half.
Real finally scored with 72 minutes gone with Benzema providing the assist for Marcelo who lashed home an unstoppable drive to mark his return to the side having missed the previous two games through injury.
Despite ending their drought, goals are still in short supply for Los Blancos. Benzema was later denied by the post as Real went in search of an equaliser, while Mariano also had a goal chalked off by VAR.
Here's how Sevilla line up tonight
Sevilla XI: Vaclik, Kjaer, Martins Carrico, Gomez, Navas, Banega, Vasquez, Arana Lopez, Sarabia, Andre Silva, Ben Yedder
Substitutes: Mesa, Nolito, Vidal, Soriano, Muriel, Promes, Mercado
Here's how Barcelona line up tonight
Barca XI: ter Stegan; Semedo, Pique, Lenglet, Alba; Melo, Busquets, Rakitic; Messi, Suarez, Coutinho
Substitutes: Dembele, Rafinha, Cillessen, El Haddadi, Roberto, Vidal, Brandariz
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