Sevilla 2-3 Barcelona

Posted Sunday, May 09, 2010 by theguardian.com

Barcelona survive late Sevilla scare to edge closer to La Liga title

Sevilla 2-3 Barcelona
Barcelona players celebrate at the Estadio Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan.

Barcelona moved to within a whisker of a second straight La Liga title with Lionel Messi, Bojan Krkic and Pedro earning a nervy 3-2 win at 10-man Sevilla last night.

Real Madrid kept the gap to one point with one match left after a late flurry of goals gave them a 5-1 victory at home to Athletic Bilbao, who also had a player sent off, but Barça now need only a win at home to lowly Real Valladolid next weekend to secure the title.

Messi put them in front in the fifth minute at the Sanchez Pizjuan when he controlled Maxwell's pass on his chest and drilled a low shot past goalkeeper Andres Palop for his 32nd goal of the season. A sublime first-time pass from Xavi sent Bojan clear to score a second for the visitors in the 28th minute and Barça looked to be cruising when Pedro added a third with a snap shot from the edge of the area in the 62nd.

But two Sevilla goals inside three second-half minutes from Frédéric Kanouté and Luis Fabiano set Barça's nerves jangling, with Pep Guardiola at one point smashing the side of the dugout three times with his elbow in frustration.

The final whistle, though, prompted wild celebrations from the Barça players and their knot of travelling fans high in the stands.

"You can never write off Sevilla and we suffered at times," said the Barcelona goalkeeper Victor Valdes. "We have to keep in mind now that Valladolid will be a tough opponent."

At the Bernabeu, a Gonzalo Higuaín shot struck the hand of Fernando Amorebieta in the penalty area in the 20th minute and the referee showed the Bilbao defender a straight red card. Cristiano Ronaldo sent Gorka Iraizoz the wrong way with the spot kick but Real were stunned four minutes before the break when Fran Yeste burst clear and finished with aplomb past Iker Casillas.

With the score at 1-1 and Barca winning in Sevilla, Real's title hopes were slipping away but Higuain, Sergio Ramos Karim Benzema and Marcelo struck four goals in the last 20 minutes to keep Real hot on Barca's heels.

"It's a difficult situation but Valladolid are battling for survival and in football anything is possible," said the Real coach, Manuel Pellegrini. "Our duty is to make sure that if Barça are champions they will have to do it with 99 points."

"We are not going to lose hope," said the Real defender Sergio Ramos. "We have to carry on doing our jobs and if Barca win the league with 99 points they'll have to be congratulated."