La Liga: Sevilla FC 2-3 FC Barcelona: Player Ratings

Once again, it was another quiet day in goal for Victor Valdés, yet somehow he still conceded twice. Maybe he could have done better with the first goal, it was a low shot that lacked any real placement, but he must have seen it late thanks to Alves’ bizarre positioning. However, he cannot be held accountable for the second goal, which was a combination of great play from Alvaro Negredo and poor defending from Sergio Busquets/Alex Song. All in all, it was another average performance from the Catalan.

There is no doubting his ability, but sometimes it appears as though Alves simply doesn’t care about the match he’s playing. Granted, it must be tough to face your former club, especially when they have played such a massive part in your career, but that’s no reason to disappear from a game – which is basically what Alves did. His positioning for the first goal was questionable to say the least; even a token attempt at blocking would have made us feel a little better. Looking at the stats, he didn’t make any major errors, but there was something about the performance which just seemed off.

How many times we will have to hear that Alex Song is not a natural centre-back? Yes, that is true, but it’s hardly an excuse given that he is playing at centre-back. Taking the argument to an extreme, you wouldn’t make excuses for a striker playing in goal, instead you would question why on earth that striker is playing in goal, and why there isn’t a goal-keeper between the sticks. It’s similar here, he isn’t a centre-half, so why is he playing at centre-half and why did we sign him over the inexpensive, La Masia centre-half Alberto Botia? Song played OK, but made a couple of errors which ultimately went punished. Then again, least he isn’t as bad as Hleb.

He did what he could, but with little in the way of support, Mascherano ultimately couldn’t keep Sevilla at bay. Whether he’s simply fatigued, or carrying a small injury of some sorts, Mascherano didn’t quite seem himself, and hasn’t for a few weeks now. Maybe a rest tonight would do him good?

Headed into the match, the spotlight was on that right-wing battle between Jesus Navas and Jordi Alba; would the Spaniard be able to keep his compatriot at bay, despite his relative inexperience in a Barcelona shirt? Turns out that he could. Jesus Navas played pretty badly on Saturday with Alba the main reason for that poor performance. Navas couldn’t rely on pace alone to beat his man, and much like a winger playing for the Blaugrana, he had no other "tricks" to fall back on. With Adriano now recovered from his injury, Tito has quite a decision to make: Alba or Adriano?

Sergio Busquets attempted 62 passes on Saturday night and completed 95% of those passes. That means that in the entire 90 minutes, he only misplaced three passes; the trouble is that one of those misplaced passes led to a goal, so it distorts our view of his performance. Granted, this wasn’t a vintage display from Busquets, but it was hardly his worst performance either bearing in mind that he missed training last week with discomfort in his back.

Was this his best performance in a Barcelona shirt? That’s not for me to say, but it was almost certainly the most important. Barca were staring at their first league defeat of the season until Cesc took the initiative and dare I say it, it appeared as though no-one else was going step-up and get the goals. His first was an excellent strike which gave Palop no chance, and his second was a cute finish – a return of the Cesc of old if you will. However, we all know that his goals aren’t the headline story...

Now, I mentioned it in the review, and still some people disagreed. In Spain, the reaction was similar – Cesc was in the wrong and its proof of some conspiracy against Real Madrid. That’s right – not against Sevilla, the team immediately affected by the calls – Real Madrid. Whatever the case, I still cannot fathom how Cesc Fàbregas is in the wrong here. Medel has a history of questionable (read: ultra-aggressive behaviour) and he still walked towards and into Cesc. Medel’s head made contact with Fàbregas, and while it wasn’t a head-butt of Zidane proportions, it was enough. Why else would Medel walk towards Cesc off the ball? To shake his hand? Maybe he wanted to compliment him on his earlier goal? Chances are, Medel wanted to hurt Fàbregas anyway, so how is Cesc in the wrong?

With Busquets possibly carrying a slight injury, the onus was on Xavi to control the midfield, a task he carried out with relative ease. Xavi made the most touches of any player on the field; more than Alvaro Negredo, Jesus Navas and Piotr Trowchowski combined, although one could argue that he did far less to influence the match. With Cesc Fàbregas playing so well, Xavi didn’t have to surge forward like he has done in previous games, allowing him to conserve energy for the hectic schedule – which is just as well with Thiago out for the next couple of months.

So Alexis really did play? The Chilean had a very quiet game on the right-hand side, was fairly wasteful with his passing and failed to hit the target with his single shot at goal. He needs to improve tonight (if he plays); otherwise he might just find that he loses his starting berth for good.

Messi didn’t score on Saturday, but his two assists helped seal the victory and his mere presence on the field created space for his teammates. David Villa used that extra space to great effect, and so did Cesc Fàbregas. Sure, many expected Leo to get a goal, but what’s important is that someone else did – a massive improvement upon last season.

The Spaniard is without a goal since the opening day of the season, although in spite of that, he has been playing very well. It just goes to show that there is more to a player than goal statistics. Pedro didn’t have many touches of the ball, nor did he have many shots on goal, but he does get an assist for his pass to Cesc Fàbregas.

Tello replaced Alexis Sanchez with 20 minutes remaining and didn’t get the opportunity to do anything of note in his time on the field.

Going 2-0 down is far from ideal, but at least they responded to win the three points. The defense remains shaky, although that's not going to change overnight, while the attack continues to over-power all in their way. Another couple of late goals, Barcelona's possession style really does pay dividends in the closing stages.

Once again, Tito made the right changes, at the right time and they managed to turn the game around. That's all that needs to be said!

As expected, Cesc claimed the MOTM award for his two-goal haul which ultimately kept Barclona in the game and gave them the platform needed to go on and win it.