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The beauty of Barcelona’s final goal in the 6-1 demolition of Sevilla

By Chiranjib Ghosh

BARCELONA, SPAIN - JANUARY 30: Lionel Messi of FC Barcelona celebrates during the Spanish Copa del Rey match between FC Barcelona v Sevilla at the Camp Nou on January 30, 2019 in Barcelona Spain (Photo by Jeroen Meuwsen/Soccrates/Getty Images)
BARCELONA, SPAIN - JANUARY 30: Lionel Messi of FC Barcelona celebrates during the Spanish Copa del Rey match between FC Barcelona v Sevilla at the Camp Nou on January 30, 2019 in Barcelona Spain (Photo by Jeroen Meuwsen/Soccrates/Getty Images) /
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Barcelona scored one of its greatest team goals in recent history against Sevilla

Anyone who loves football cannot deny that Barcelona play beautiful football. A certain elegance is very deep-rooted in the club tradition that is a constant despite managerial changes. This is what separates Barça from other Spanish giants like Valencia and Real Madrid.

The tiki-taka philosophy developed by Johan Cruyff has survived the test of time, unlike its parent footballing tradition ‘Total Football’. After its refinement by Pep Guardiola, it is defines Barça. The team values that are embedded in the dressing room are what to lead to magnificent goals.

The core principle of tiki-taka is the supremacy of the eleven over the one. One can even find this in ancient Greek philosophy, as Aristotle said that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. But when this manifests itself ‘The Beautiful Game’, it is transcendental.

One of the greatest goals ever scored in the World Cup was Esteban Cambiasso’s strike against Serbia and Montenegro in the 2006 edition of the tournament. It required a total of 26 intelligent, well-crafted passes before the defensive midfielder fired past Dragoslav Jevrić.

Barça’s final goal in the 6-1 thrashing of Sevilla in the second leg of the Copa del Rey quarter-final was similar in its class and grace. But it required a greater presence of mind and quicker reactions to pull through. But undoubtedly, it will count among the Blaugrana’s greatest goals.

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The counter-attack was initiated by Carles Aleñá, who started the move by bringing the ball out of defence after Sevilla had been dispossessed in the final third. The La Masia graduate made the right call by passing it to Lionel Messi.

The Argentine maestro then released Arturo Vidal on the left flank before launching a run into the box. The Chile international passed it inside to Luis Suárez, who completed an absolutely outstanding one-two with Gerard Piqué, who had also come up from defence.

On receiving the ball from the centre-back, ‘El Pistolero’ gave it to Jordi Alba. The Spanish speedster could have taken the shot himself. But he made use of his telepathic understanding with Messi to back-heel it to the Argentine maestro.

Messi took a single touch to control the ball before firing it into the bottom left corner from point-blank range past a hapless Juan Soriano. The way in which the Sevilla goalkeeper was rooted to spot showed that even he was dazzled by what he had just witnessed.

Unlike some of the club’s other brilliant team goals, like the one scored by Andrés Iniesta in a 4-3 victory over Real Madrid in a Clásico away from home, this took hardly 20 seconds to complete. It involved 7 precise, excellently weighed passes from the world’s best team.

If it were any team other than Barça, the move would have ended much earlier. Most sides would have deemed the last few passes totally unnecessary. In fact, Luis Suárez and Jordi Alba could have easily bagged a goal themselves. But in the end, it was Lionel Messi who scored.

Next. Messi: "Barça want to win everything". dark

A feast for the eyes, Messi’s goal in stoppage time against Sevilla will go down in history as the culmination of a performance worthy of the Copa del Rey trophy itself.