What a glorious display of football! Barcelona had their best performance of the season, an evening reminiscent of the glorious 2008/2009 season, and they completely destroyed Sevilla. One of the best teams in the Spanish league was reduced to vulgarity.
Messi scored a brace, Villa ended the goal drought and scored a brace too (including an absolutely superb goal) and Alves scored one.
The massacre began quite early; Barcelona started dominating and creating chances right from the kick-off and Lionel Messi opened the score with a class finish in the fourth minute. It was the beginning of a great night for the Camp Nou faithful.
Barcelona kept playing their beautiful football and Sevilla were powerless to resist. Class was oozing especially from the likes of Messi, Xavi and Iniesta, who delighted the Camp Nou with their talent. In the 23rd minute, Messi eliminated two defenders and gave the ball to David Villa, who scored an awe-inspiring goal. It was the best goal of the night at Camp Nou.
Sevilla tried to react, but their efforts were useless. The catalans were in an inspired night and kept creating chances for fun. In the last minute of the first half, Konko got a second yellow card due to a challenge on Pedro. Playing against 10, the only question was how many more goals Barcelona would score.
The second half was basically a repetition of the first. Sevilla fought valiantly but they couldn't resist the Barcelona juggernaut. Alves scored on the 53th minute and Messi scored a beautiful goal in the 64th minute. It all seemed very, very easy. Guardiola decided to give Xavi some well-deserved rest (especially since he was just back from injury) and gave Mascherano an opportunity. Pedro, who was also brilliant, left for Bojan and Puyol for Adriano.
After the substitutions, Barcelona's game slowed down a bit, but opportunities kept coming. When everyone thought that, just like in the two previous seasons, Barcelona would beat Sevilla 4-0, David Villa scored the fifth, with an excellent shot from the edge of the box.
The Camp Nou loved every single moment and vocally showed their appreciation. Today's match was really a party at Camp Nou.
It was an almost perfect match for Barcelona, as the team seems to be hitting top form. Xavi commanded the field like usual, Iniesta oozed class in every touch of the ball, Messi was his usual deadly self and David Villa found his goalscoring form again.
Unfortunately for Barcelona, Real Madrid managed to grind out a late win at Hercules and, thanks to Barcelona's poor home form at the beginning of the season, Los Blancos still lead the table, one point ahead of Barcelona.
Next week, Barcelona will play at Getafe and they must keep their perfect away form. Real Madrid has their first "big" match of the season against Atletico Madrid at home and a slip up might finally see Barcelona climb to first place in the league standings.
Before that, though, there's a Champions League at Copenhagen on Tuesday. A win will seal the first place of the group.
This fantastic 5-0 win came at the best possible moment as the blaugrana now face a very difficult November; in the league, Barcelona will face Getafe, Villareal, Almeria and Real Madrid, in a month that might prove to be crucial for Barcelona's aspirations in this competition. Besides, there are also important Champions League and Copa Del Rey matches, starting this Tuesday.
It's time for Pep Guardiola and his men to show why Barcelona are hailed by many (including José Mourinho) as the best team in the world. Given today's performance, there's every reason to believe that November will be a successful month for the blaugrana.
