FC Barcelona surpirisingly lost the first leg of Copa Del Rey quarterfinals at home to an under strength Sevilla side. FC Barcelona now face a near impossible task of winning the second leg away from home with atleast two goals clear to proceed to the next game. Two matches into the new year, Barca is still looking for their first win of the year. Diego Capel always has been a head-ache for Barca and he opened the scoring for Sevilla. Ibrahmovic equalised but Sevilla restored the lead from an Alvaro Negredo penalty shortly. Guardiola brought in a number of fringe players and they failed big time to gel together. The only silver lining was the return of Gabi Milito into action and he looked quite comfortable in his position. Guardiola as expected gave Pinto the start in the Copa Del Rey match. The defense had Alves, Chygrynskiy, Milito and Maxwell made up the defense. The midfield had Thiago Alcantara, Marquez and Iniesta. The forward line-up saw Messi, Bojan and Pedro joining hand together.In the 7th minute Pinto reacted with a diving save to deny Romaric from a free kick; (Pinto saw the ball late and his position also looked a bit suspicious). Barca responded immediately with Messi cutting inside and forcing a good save from Palop. In the 21st minute Palop failed to hold onto an Alves free kick but Marquez was somehow beaten to the rebound by a defender. From the resulting corner Iniesta sent in a great cross but it was just high for Bojan; Messi took the ball on th
e sideline and curled in a shot(god know how) but was unlucky to see it hit the cross bar. Sevilla thought they scored in the 34th minute when Capel put the ball in the net but was judged offside.For the second match in succession our performance started to go down in the second half. Ibra was brought in for Pedro in the start of the half. Sevilla started exterting more pressure. In then 51st minute Pinto did well to deny Renato with his legs. Then in the 60th minute Perotti skipped past Alves on the right and his cross was well directed by Renato to Capel who was unmarked and made no mistake with the finish. In the 71st minute Alves made a great run on the right and sent in a high cross; Bojan's shot got deflected off Ibra into the goal but the referee disallowed the goal for some non-existent foul by Ibra. In the 74th mimute Marquez played a great ball over the defense releasing Ibra free; Ibra controlled the ball well and got past the advancing goal keeper to put the ball into the net. But the celebrations were short lived as Sevilla went ahead the next minute. Chygrynskiy fouled Capel on the edge of the box but the Madrid based referee Perez pointed to the spot which Negredo duly converted. Messi had a great chance to equalise but he couldn't convert.
Barca has a very difficult task now ahead. Sevilla will be a tough place to visit and win and we have to win by two goals. We have done it earlier, our last visit to Sevilla it an example. But we are no where near that form and will require a near miracle not to get thrown out of this competition. Referee Perez once again proved his loyalty to Madrid throughout the match but that cannot be only pointed as the reason for defeat. We were below par for most of the game. The defense looked vulnerable against the pace of Capel and company. The offense with Bojan especially struggling faile dto create any serious phase of threat. Guardiola has got a week's time get his act together. Our visit to Tenerife should used to instill confidence back in the team.