Sevilla thrashed Barcelona 4-1 on Sunday, ending the champions’ unbeaten start in La Liga and denying them an opportunity to return to the top of the table.
Hansi Flick, Barcelona’s manager, said: “Today, I have to accept this defeat, and I’m looking positive, in a way. We also see the negative points in our game, which we have to change. The first half wasn’t good … we had no solutions to play out, it was really not good. But in the second half, the reaction, I appreciate a lot. What we did, how we played, it was really good to see.
“With this defeat, this emotion … it’s important that we keep it, and when we start again after the break, we will fight. We will fight for every title.”
Sevilla took the lead in the 13th minute, after Isaac Romero went down while jostling for the ball with Ronald Araújo near Barcelona’s six-yard box. Alexis Sánchez sent former Arsenal teammate Wojciech Szczesny the wrong way to convert the spot kick.
Romero doubled Sevilla’s lead in the 37th minute, but Marcus Rashford scored from Pedri’s lobbed pass to make it 2-1 just before half-time.
Barcelona had a chance to equalise when Adnan Januzaj brought down Alejandro Balde, but Robert Lewandowski fired wide from the spot in the 76th minute before José Ángel Carmona and Akor Adams scored two late goals, as the visitors remained two points behind the leaders, Real Madrid.
“It’s one of the happiest days of my life. We deserved to win from start to finish,” said José Ángel Carmona, who scored Sevilla’s third goal.
The Barcelona midfielder Pedri said: “We lacked intensity, we couldn’t get the ball out of our half, we didn’t know what to do with the ball … we were never at our best. We need to improve a lot of things so that we can start winning games again after the break.”
Later on Sunday in Spain, Celta Vigo host Atlético Madrid.
In Serie A, second-half goals from André-Frank Zambo Anguissa and Rasmus Højlund helped Napoli battle back to earn a 2-1 home win over Genoa.
Napoli’s perfect start to the league campaign was ended by a 2-1 loss at Milan last weekend, and Antonio Conte’s side risked a second successive defeat before a spirited fightback.
Conte opted to rest Kevin De Bruyne after the Belgian midfielder had started all seven games this season, bringing in winger David Neres, but it was Anguissa who proved vital to Napoli.
Genoa, who had registered two goals in their previous five league games, took the lead with an audacious piece of magic from Jeff Ekhator in the 33rd minute. Brooke Norton-Cuffy rounded Mathias Olivera, took the ball into the area and squared a pass which 18-year-old Ekhator finished off with a deft back-heel strike from just inside the six-yard box.
Napoli lost Stanislav Lobotka to injury before the break, with Conte introducing Billy Gilmour, and there were more problems for the hosts with Matteo Politano going down which led to De Bruyne making his entrance five minutes into the second half.
“It was a really beautiful first half on our part. I think we played with personality and organisation,” Genoa coach Patrick Vieira told Sky Sport. “Unfortunately, the second half, when they made these changes, was a bit difficult for us, also on the physical aspect.“
Leonardo Spinazzola also came on and it was his cross which led to Napoli’s equaliser 12 minutes after the break with their first effort on target.
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Genoa’s Johan Vásquez got to the cross ahead of Højlund but the loose ball bounced kindly for the unmarked Anguissa to pounce with a header.
Then, 15 minutes from time, Anguissa’s shot was parried away by the keeper and this time Højlund was there to capitalise with a low strike from the edge of the six-yard box.
Roma fell behind early but came away with a 2-1 win at Fiorentina, to leave the hosts waiting for their first league win of the season.
Gian Piero Gasperini’s Roma had conceded just one goal in their five league outings but it was Fiorentina who were in front in the 14th minute when a ball over the top by Hans Nicolussi Caviglia found Moise Kean. Kean twisted and turned his way towards the area before rifling a shot from outside the box into the far top corner to net his first goal of the season.
The lead lasted all of eight minutes before Artem Dovbyk’s backheeled flick from inside the box ended with Matías Soulé’s first-time cannoned shot from the edge of the area which left Fiorentina keeper David de Gea with no chance.
Roma took the lead on the half-hour mark from a corner. Bryan Cristante lost his marker and powered a bullet header from outside the six-yard box.
Kean had another chance before the break but this time his effort smashed off the upright and in the second half Fiorentina substitute Roberto Piccoli saw his strike from distance bounce off the crossbar.
In Sunday’s big game in Italy, Milan visit Juventus in the late kick-off.
