Barcelona have relaunched themselves into the La Liga title race with a thumping 4-1 away victory over Sevilla, MySportDab reports.
The Catalan giants went into the game four points adrift of league leaders Real Madrid and three behind second-place Atletico Madrid.
They needed victory to keep tabs on the race for the title which is gradually narrowing down to a three-horse race involving the top three on the table.
After Real Madrid shared spoils with Atletico Madrid in a top-of-the-table clash in the earlier fixture, the Catalan giants had a golden chance to narrow the gap at the top on the two teams and did it perfectly with a win over Sevilla.
As expected, it was a rollercoaster in Seville for the Catalan side as Sevilla put up a strong first-half performance to keep the star-studded Hansi Flick side on check.
Robert Lewandowski scored just seven minutes into the game for the away side but it took just a minute for Sevilla to restore parity, thanks to Ruben Vargas’ goal.
The quickfire goals set the stage for a nervy finish in the first 45. After conceding immediately, Barcelona stepped up proceedings to retake the lead but the hosts were equal to the task, holding firm to go into the break with the 1-1 scoreline.
In the second half, Barcelona, hungrier for all three points, reinvented themselves with a more superior performance.
Just a minute into the restart, Fermin Lopez opened the scoring for the away side to make it 2-1.
Nine minutes later, Raphinha extended the lead, thanks to an assist by Pau Cubarsi.
The Blaugrana’s fiery start to the second half was nearly undone with a red card for Pau Cubarsi, reducing the team to 10 men.
However, the depth of quality and tactical versatility of Flick played out as the team held firm to protect the two-goal lead.
To cap another spectacular night for the title hopefuls, Eric Garcia rounded up the victory scoring in the 89th minute to make it 4-1.
It ended with Barcelona winning with the impressive score margin despite playing with 10 men for most part of the second half.
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