It was an exasperating first 45 minutes and Xavi was having sweaty times getting Barcelona to wrap up what was expected to be another victory episode.
Playing on Sunday against Sevilla, one thing was missing first half: goals!!!
So, at halftime, Xavi made a tactical change, and asked his players to be more incisive by blasting the ball into the penalty area rather than passing it through a packed-in opponent.
It worked to perfection, and Barcelona ran away with the second half, victorious via a 3-0 scoreline to shed Sevilla with ease and move eight points clear at the top of the La Liga table.
Earlier in the day Real Madrid had slipped in their fixture and provided the opening.
Barcelona capitalised on the situation as they move even further ahead in the Spanish league title race.
An under-fire Raphinha and spot-starter Jordi Alba were the two most influential players after the break, each picking up a goal and assist to spark the win. Barcelona will be sweating the fitness of veteran Sergio Busquets, who went down with a nasty ankle turn just five minutes into the match, but replacement Franck Kessie picked up a great assist on Alba’s opening goal, and was able to replace the fallen captain well.
Sevilla provided almost no resistance through the 90 minutes, dominated from start to finish on possession.
They were able to frustrate the hosts through the first half, but after the break couldn’t deal with the repeated crosses and diagonal balls into their penalty area.
