3 things we learned: FC Barcelona vs Sevilla 2017/18 La Liga

Good result

This may not have been Barcelona’s best performance and the scoreline is unconvincing, but this is a good result. Sevilla have had serious issues to work through such as their susceptibility to the counter-attack which Spartak Moscow exploited ruthlessly. They appeared to be working through these issues prior to this match because they beat the Russian side in the return fixture as well as defeating a tough Leganés side.

Eduardo Berizzo has a good record against Barcelona from his time at Celta Vigo. He had three wins as well as three losses. Even more impressive is that two of the victories were 4-3 and 4-1 wins. He tends to employ a high press against the Catalans which is usually effective. This could be seen in the second half as he tweaked Sevilla’s setup, and they posed a lot more attacking threat in that half.

The scoreline did flatter Sevilla slightly as a few players, Suárez in particular, were guilty of missing key chances. This can be seen in the xG total below with Sevilla’s goal coming from poor marking on a corner. For this game, the result is significantly more important than the performance. The three points keeps them four in front of Valencia as well as eight in front of Real Madrid.

Next: Valverde Producing Results

Valverde has done an excellent job so far as games such as this one are becoming his trademark. The team is winning even when they don’t play great, which was the major issue last season. He has also had to work around injuries to key players such as major signing Ousmane Dembélé. Add on to this the structural issues at the club and the political issues in the region. Considering all of this, its been a great start.