Barcelona were beaten 2-1 by Sevilla as Unai Emery ended an incredible 20-game run of never having beaten Barça.
Emery had coached Almeria, Valencia, Spartak Moscow and Sevilla to draws and defeats against Barcelona, finally he had a victory and Manchester City’s Champions League group opponents deserved their three points despite the story of the first half at the Sanchez Pizjuan being one of Barcelona’s failure to take their chances.
Neymar was denied by Sergio Rico and Munir El Hadaddi fired over from Sergi Busquet's assist. Then Luis Suarez took too long to let fly after being teed-up brilliantly by Neymar who had spun away from Steven N'Zonzi.
The forwards were struggling to react quickly enough in front of goal but it was defender Gerard Pique who was most guilty of missing the chance to put Barça ahead.
Neymar hit the frame of the goal with a free-kick that then bobbled along the goal line like a stray balloon. It just needed a Barça boot to poke it home but inexplicably Pique, who was the man on the spot, watched it run from one post to the other without launching himself at the ball. Suarez came charging in at the far post but the chance was gone.
Suarez kept plugging away in the absence of Leo Messi, the team-mate he is having to drive to training until his knee injury improves. The Uruguayan was brought down by Timothée Kolodziejczak, who went into the book, and he stayed down for long enough for Barcelona fans to think the worst before eventually getting to his feet. The last thing Luis Enrique’s team needed was another injury.
Sevilla have had their chances too but only thanks to Barça's poor defending. Bravo saved well from Kevin Gamiero and Jeremy Mathieu almost put past his own keeper with a diving header that went out for a corner.
Grzegorz Krychowiak went into the book for a foul on former Sevilla midfielder Rakitic and another one-time Sevilla player Dani Alves watched from the bench. The last time Sevilla had beaten Barça in this fixture the Brazilian was still playing for them.
They rolled back the years in the second half with two early goals. They got their noses in-front through Krohn-Dehli. Gameiro made the goal with a fantastic run from the halfway line. His power took him past Jordi Alba and he still had the poise to pick out the Dane who was unmarked at the far post to score.
(Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football)
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