Barcelona finished the weekend in third place in the La Liga table but have closed the gap at the top to just two points thanks to a hard-fought 4-1 win away to Sevilla at the Ramón Sánchez-Pizjuán on Sunday night.
Leaders Real Madrid fought to a 1-1 draw to second placed Atletico Madrid in the Madrid derby on Saturday-Mbappe scoring his debut Madrid derby goal to cancel out Alvarez’s first half penalty.
The defeat means Sevilla are on a club record run of league matches without a win against Barcelona.
The action in Seville was never bored with big chances, controversial calls and great goals, and ended with Barça finding a way to win with 10 men to light the title race on fire.
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 in the opening minutes to put Barça ahead.
Barcelona who have struggled to keep clean sheets on the road in LaLiga this season, and conceded once again as Sevilla equalized a minute later – extending the Blaugrana’s run to six games without a league shutout on the road.
Despite losing their lead so quickly, Barça stayed calm having far more of the ball for the rest of the half looking for spaces to pounce. It took until the first minute of the second half, though, for them to regain their lead. Substitute Fermín López was the scorer, getting on the end of Pedri’s beautifully weighted cross.
Raphinha made it 3-1 shortly after with a brilliant effort, turning on the ball before moving past a defender and rattling the ball past Ørjan Nyland with less favorite right foot.
López was dismissed in the 62nd minute after a VAR review for his questionable challenge on Djibril Sow.
Another second half substitute Eric García, got Barcelona’s fourth in the 89th minute heading home Raphinha’s free-kick which missed everyone.
Handi Flick’s Barça now scored 64 goals in the first 23 La Liga games this season and it is their highest since the – season.
