Barcelona 5-2 Sevilla: Raphinha scores three as Barça claim stunning Election Day victory | OneFootball

Raphinha guided Barcelona to a dominant 5-2 victory over Sevilla at the Spotify Camp Nou on Sunday, maintaining their four-point lead over Real Madrid as tens of thousands of fans headed to the polls to elect the new Barça president.

The Brazilian’s hat-trick, comprised of two first-half penalties and a deflected strike after the break, plus efforts from Dani Olmo and João Cancelo ensured that Barcelona extend their LaLiga winning streak at the Camp Nou to 14 games – a feat last achieved in December 2019 under Ernesto Valverde.

As it happened

Barcelona headed into Sunday’s afternoon clash knowing that victory would see them restore their four-point lead at the top of LaLiga, buoyed by a crowd of 56,483 after the Ajuntament de Barcelona awarded the long-awaited C1 licence that permitted the opening of the Gol Nord stand.

And Barça gave their home faithful plenty to cheer about as they ran riot against a Sevilla side looking to distance themselves from the drop zone, with Raphinha permitted to open the scoring with an audacious Panenka from the penalty spot after Djibril Sow felled João Cancelo inside the box just nine minutes into the contest.

Dani Olmo could have doubled that lead with a first-time effort soon after, and while the Spaniard was denied by a Odysseas Vlachodimos save, the hosts wouldn’t have to wait long for their second of the afternoon.

VAR found that José Carmona had used his arm to bat the ball away from Cancelo inside the box, awarding Raphinha another opportunity from the penalty spot that was duly despatched into the bottom corner and past Vlachodimos, who couldn’t quite get a strong enough hand to it.

Things soon turned from bad to worse for Sevilla – and Carmona specifically – as a deflection off the Spaniard allowed Marc Bernal’s cross to fall into the path of Olmo, who beat the goalkeeper with a thumping effort into the bottom corner to extend Barça’s lead to a comfortable three-goal cushion.

Three minutes of stoppage time at the end of the first half presented Sevilla with just enough time to claw a goal back, though, with Juanlu Sánchez’s cross fizzed back across goal and into the far corner by Oso with the visitors’ first shot on target of the afternoon.

But it would prove to be nothing more than a consolation for Matías Almeyda’s men. A fine intervention from Nemanja Gudelj cut out Bernal’s low cross for Robert Lewandowski early in the second half, but the Serbian defender could do nothing to prevent Raphinha’s inevitable hat-trick, which deflected off the underside of his leg and into the top corner.

Still, Barcelona pushed for more and they found a well-deserved fifth goal on the hour mark through Cancelo. After a lively first-half in which he won both penalties, the Portuguese international broke free on the left flank and ran from the half-way line before cutting back past Gudelj and rolling a composed finish through the legs of Vlachodimos.

Raphinha was withdrawn to rapturous applause in the 82nd minute, handing the captain’s armband to the returning Gavi, who had been sidelined through injury since September and was welcomed back by a lively Spotify Camp Nou crowd.

Hansi Flick’s men could have grabbed a late sixth goal when Lewandowski came close once again in the dying moments, but the forward inexplicably blasted wide of the target – and that created a late chance for Sevilla to net their second of the afternoon, with Oso providing the assist with a cross from the left that was nodded home by Djibril Sow.

With just 10 games left to play, Barcelona sit four points clear of Real Madrid at the top of the LaLiga table. They welcome Rayo Vallecano to Catalunya next weekend, but first turn their attention to a midweek UEFA Champions League meeting with Newcastle.