It was a nice night for revenge for Barcelona FC. The team had been eliminated from the Copa del Rey on the away-goals rule against Sevilla last week. This week, though, Barcelona, facing Sevilla again, squashed their rivals 4-0 and, incidentally, took advantage of Real Madrid’s 1-0 defeat to Athletic Bilbao to extend their lead at the top of La Liga. Barcelona has 46 points, five more than Manuel Pellegrini’s team.

With just one more date to complete the first round, Barça have 14 wins compared to 13 from Real Madrid. But the big difference between them is that Guardiola’s team hasn’t lost a game, while Real Madrid have suffered three defeats: against Sevilla, Barcelona, and Bilbao.

Barcelona came out at Camp Nou ready to take their three points and gain sweet revenge against Sevilla for last Wednesday’s knock out. But Barça had to wait until the second half for the execution.

From the beginning, Sevilla left the initiative to the locals, limiting themselves to holding, looking to surprise Barça using the speed of players like Jesus Navas and striker Arouna Kone. But Barça soon made their intentions clear; French striker Thierry Henry sent a cross into the area, where Swedish player Zlatan Ibrahimovic, practically on the goal line, sent it out.

Barcelona remained faithful to its strategy, constructing plays from Xavi Hernandez and Andres Iniesta, who assisted Lionel Messi, Henry, and Ibrahimovic, who in turn attacked the goal defended by Andres Palop.

Palop had a great first half, stopping a large shot from Henry and blocking a good header from Carles Puyol in the near post. It was Palop who kept the first half at an even 0-0.

Entering the second half, Sevilla coach Manolo Jimenez brought in Diego Capel, hoping for access to the sidelines. Nonetheless, Barcelona’s strong offensive strategy brought them success; Frenchman Julien Escude scored an own-goal after a cross from Thierry Henry, putting the score at 1-0 in favor of Barcelona at minute 48.

The goal prompted the Azulgranas to continue attacking Palop’s goal, and a few minutes later Pedro Rodriguez made the second goal after a great pass from Xavi at minute 70. Fifteen minutes later, Messi, Barcelona’s superstar striker, scored the third goal after he made an incredible shot from the edge of the small area, moving between three defenders.

And when it seemed the game was almost over, Messi beat goalkeeper Palop again after firing a shot from a cross by Eric Abidal, putting the final score at 4-0 at minute 90.

The two goals launch Messi into the lead of the scoring list with 14 goals, two more than his closest contender, Valencia’s David Villa.

The Argentine expressed his satisfaction at not only conquering his 101st goal, but also beating a team that had played rough in the Copa del Rey.

“It was a very tough game but we showed the good football that we produced in the previous game (a 1-0 lost against Sevilla on Wednesday) and this confidence in our game helped us beat a very hard-working opponent. We stayed faithful to our style of play. It's important to be winter champions but what we want is to get to the end of the season in the same position. We cannot be over-confident because there is still a lot of the season left and I'm sure Madrid will fight until the end,'' alleged Messi.

Revenge is sweet. And, if the team wins its next game against Valladolid on January 23rd, the Azulgranas will end the first round of the season undefeated.

About the Author

Ally White has been a prominent writer on daily Spanish League Soccer; sports news and the sportsbetting industry for many exceptional sport web sites. You may reprint this article in its full content, please note no modifications to it are accepted.