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| Barcelona goal keeper Victor Valdes reacts after the miracle play save their day. |
Dani Alves 36’
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Ivan Rakitic 80’
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Lionel Messi 75’
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Coke 90’
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Alexi Sanchez 94’
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For the second time, Barcelona was on the verge of losing their edge, but somehow it always manage to find a savior.
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| Second goal of Barcelona courtesy of Messi |
Battling a 2-2 scoreline, Barcelona tries its luck to extricate itself from an undesirable situation where it had to lose 2 points in a tightly contested season. Barely a minute before the whistle time, Barcelona regrouped and try to produce a miracle. Xavi received throw in and found Messi on the right hand side. Messi raced towards the right of the penalty box and then penetrates deep into the goal line. He then lets out a pass to the middle which Sevilla goal keeper Beto deflected. Unluckily for Sevilla, the deflection landed on Alexi Sanchez who immediately pounced the ball and sending the ball to the back of the net. Camp Nou erupted both in jubilation and relief as their team made a miraculous resurrection from the dead.
Earlier, it was a game dominated by Barcelona as clearly it had numerous opportunities. Neymar made several intrusions into the Sevilla backline. Each time however, Neymar is thwarted by the swarming defense. Displaying their trademark patient offense, Barcelona finally reaped the dividends in the 36th minute when Dani Alves broke the ice after chip pass from Adriano. Alves rifled the shot which was blocked by Beto but the ball bounce towards the inside of the goal. Barcelona could have added the goal before halftime, courtesy of Pique's header, but it hit the woodwork.
In the second half, Sevilla showed signs of coming back with their counter attacks. The break came in the 64th minute when Juan Cala's header found its way into the net, only to be nullified as Kevein Gameiro was found offside. Just as Sevilla was set to equalise, Messi finally scored a goal in the 75th minute from Neymar's layback. However, in the 80th minute, Sevilla struck back when Ivan Rakitic received a square pass from Vitolo and poked it towards the Barcelona goal out of reach of Victor Valdes.
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| An unmarked Coke slammed ball into the Barcelona goal |
Barcelona failed to defend the lead later as a Rakitic corner found an unmarked Coke who slammed the ball into the net in the 90th minute just as the injury time started. Frustration and shock seems to descend on Barcelona as they are on the verge on losing two points and possibly the lead in La Liga. To make matters worse, Sevilla almost wiped out any point for Barcelona when in the 93rd minute Juan Cala pass a through ball to a streaking Marko Marin and set up a one on one with Victor Valdes. Fortunately for Barcelona, Valdes picked the ball before Marin could do the damage.
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| Messi and Alexi: saviors of the day |
In the ensuing play, Barcelona made a miracle this time courtesy to the indafatigable and never say die Lionel Messi.
