After the 1-1 draw in the Madrid derby last night, Barça knew that a win was needed to capitalise on the top two dropping points – and the visitors to Seville made their intentions clear, taking the lead inside seven minutes.
A corner routine paid off, as Raphinha’s floated ball in the box was headed by Iñigo Martínez into the path of Robert Lewandowski, who prodded home.
However, Barça have struggled to keep clean sheets on the road in LaLiga this season, and those struggles reared their head once again as Sevilla equalised a minute later – extending the Blaugrana’s run to six games without a league shutout on the road.
Straight from the kick-off, the Rojiblancos sliced through the visitors’ defence like butter, as Saúl raced through on goal and squared the ball for Rubén Vargas to fire home.
Following the breathless start, both sides had chances to add to the scoreline throughout the first half. Raphinha had a shot saved from distance, shortly before Jules Koundé blazed over from the edge of the box.
Lamine Yamal was having an unusually quiet evening, but he saw a shot saved at the near post. Sevilla themselves had an opportunity to take the lead before the HT break, with the chance falling to Dodi Lukebakio, whose overhead kick was brilliantly stopped by Wojciech Szczęsny.
The start to the second half almost replicated the first, as Barça netted – this time within a minute of the restart. Following a quick passing move, Pedri floated a ball into the box for Fermín López to nod in.
Not learning from their first-half mistakes, Barça conceded a minute later again – only this time they were saved by the linesman’s offside flag. Sevilla cut through with ease once again, and Isaac Romero slid the ball to the far post for Vargas to tap in but the Swiss international was denied a brace.
That moment would prove costly, as Flick’s men netted a third goal on 55 minutes through arguably their player of the year, Raphinha, who powered the ball home from the edge of the box for his 24th goal of the season.
Coasting with a two-goal lead, the visitors were dealt a blow when López slid in on Djibril Sow, resulting in a yellow card, which was eventually upgraded to a red following a lengthy VAR review.
However, Sevilla ultimately failed to capitalise on the man advantage as the Blaugrana added a fourth goal late on through an Eric García header which moves Barça within a point of second-place Atlético Madrid and two points off leaders Real Madrid.
Meanwhile, Sevilla’s unbeaten run of four games comes to an end, with García Pimienta’s men sitting in 13th place.