David Villa rescues Barca from Sevilla at Nou Camp

David Villa rescued Barça at the Nou Camp last night just when the ghosts of the past from last Wednesday at the San Siro started to haunt them. Sevilla used similar tactics that worked for A.C Milan with a goal from Botía putting the Seville team ahead on the stroke of halftime. Before the nerves got the better of the Catalans, the club found the goal that so many people have been asking for just lately: a good cross from the wing from Dani Alves executed by striker David Villa. Leo Messi completed the comeback with a goal after some good teamwork. Barca still has the league wrapped up but leaves a few doubts ahead of a difficult week for the club.

It’s a week where a few debates have opened up at the Catalan club and the match against Seville will serve to justify them because Barcelona got stuck again against an opponent who had ten men in their own half who were closely grouped together. There didn’t seem to be a way forward until Tello provided the remedy. There are several ways to create spaces in football and one of the most frequent is the one on one. Tello is one of those players who has that gift. He’s not the perfect player by far, but his virtues are often used to change the sway of a game. Number 23 Coke had spent the first half of the game relatively quiet but then suffered the wrath of Tello who left him for dead most of the time. This is what Barca lacked at the San Siro. – Someone prepared to take them on in a one on one.

Another debate is whether Barca should play with a striker or not. Barcelona has not done too badly playing with a false striker in recent years, as they have won a lot and played very well. The dismal performance at the San Siro warranted the figure of a number 9 and both press and fans called for one. Barca employs one of the best in Spain’s footballing history – David Villa, a renowned scorer. He proved it against Seville by scoring the equalizer – a header in the 6-yard box coming from a cross from Dani Alves from the right.

Until then, the club had struggled to pass the ball forward Fazio, Botia, Maduro and Medel encircled an uncomfortable Leo Messi. Barca could have scored on a few occasions with a couple of chances from Iniesta and Messi, but it was not to be. Seville also had a hard time getting into the game except when Navas appeared. Alexis did not create anything, Messi was not his usual self and Villa didn’t cause any problems on the left. Barca’s brilliance depended on Andrés Iniesta.

In one of Seville’s rare appearances in Barcelona’s penalty area in the first half, they took advantage of the Blaugrana’s defensive weakness. Barca are conceding more than usual and it’s now eleven consecutive matches conceding goals – too many for a team of Barca’s calibre. It doesn’t matter the competition and who the rival is, Barca ends up picking the ball out of their net at least once per game and it’s beginning to be a habit. David Villa solved the problem at the start of the second half, before the nerves got the better of the Catalans. Soon after, in a move that was more becoming and more recognizable of the Barcelona that we all know, ??came the second goal. Tello and Messi combined with the ‘Flea’ finding the back of the net. It’s now an incredible fifteen consecutive matches with a total of 37 goals with thirteen games remaining.

The worrying part of the match however wasn’t when Barca couldn’t find space at 0-0 or 0-1 but the fact that Seville did manage to find space after the Catalans equalized. Barca didn’t know how to put this match to bed and they didn’t know how to defend until Busquets came on to help them out in the 33^rd minute of the second half. Seville found space and danger with Rakiti. Alvaro Negredo could have caused serious damage with a one on one with Valdés but sent the ball over the crossbar. Busquets came on because Jordi Roura saw danger and couldn’t let Seville equalize. Barca marched one step towards La Liga title but left serious doubts especially with the second leg of La Copa del Rey against Real Madrid this week.