BARCELONA have a mountain to climb to retain their Copa del Rey title after slumping to a 2-1 home defeat in the first leg of their last-16 tie with Sevilla.
Barca’s Copa del Rey success of last year was the first of a record-breaking six trophies they won in 2009 but Pep Guardiola’s men need to do it the hard way if they are to claim a 26th cup title this season after a much-changed side went down to a similarly weakened Sevilla on Tuesday.
Injuries and international call-ups had left Sevilla coach Manolo Jimenez with just 14 seniors players for the trip to the Nou Camp, but the Andalusians came out on top thanks to second-half goals from Diego Capel and Alvaro Negredo, who netted the winner from the penalty spot.
In between those strikes, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who started the match on the bench along with the likes of regular first-teamers Xavi, Carles Puyol, Thierry Henry, Victor Valdes and Gerard Pique, drew Barca level in the 74th minute.
Although Guardiola opted to leave many of his stars on the sidelines at the beginning he still selected a decent team including Andres Iniesta, Dani Alves and Lionel Messi, and it was the FIFA World Player of the Year who came close to breaking the deadlock during a goalless the first half when he hit the woodwork in the 22nd minute.
It was Sevilla who would end up taking the lead though as Capel picked up a pass from Renato Dirnei before slotting past Jose Pinto on the hour mark.
Barca were back on level terms just 14 minutes later when Ibrahimovic, who replaced Pedro Rodriguez at half-time, scored his 13th goal of an impressive first season with the Catalan giants since his big-money summer switch from Inter Milan.
Parity lasted barely two minutes though before Sevilla had the chance to get their noses back in front when Dmitro Chygrinskiy fouled Capel inside the area to concede a penalty.
Former Real Madrid striker Negredo stepped up to take the kick and slotted past Pinto to give 2007 cup winners Sevilla a potentially crucial lead to take back to the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan stadium for next week’s second leg.
The remainder of the seven Copa del Rey last-16 ties will be played Wednesday and Thursday.
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