Messi’s defeat in the hands of Seville in his 900th match

Messi played silently against Seville and led to the defeat of Barcelona by 2-0 in the semifinals of Copa Del Ray on Wednesday. 

Messi has scored the maximum score by playing against no other team but Seville, which is 37 in 41 games. Whereas Argentina lost many possibilities to win as Seville won matches in continuous repetition. Initially, the scorer of the match was Jules Kounde but eventually, Ivan Rakitic ruled the field.

On the 27th of February, Camp Nou stadium will be hosting the second leg of the match. The first leg of another semifinal will be conducted by Athletic Bilbao. 

Barcelona coach Ronald Koeman ensured that there is still hope because although complicated, the team has the capacity to do anything. The most attractive teams Barcelona and Seville entered the semifinals making the much-wanted headlines. But all the six consecutive matches were won by the Catalan club. 

Seville coach Julen Lopetegui said that the toughest match is yet to be played. They are only playing the half time of 180 minutes, there is yet much more to happen before going to Barcelona, which is expected to be quite difficult. 

The Catalan club got eliminated after winning consecutively while they were trying to make it to the ninth finale in eleven years. Barcelona won both times as the teams played in the Copa final in 2016 and 2018. 

The Seville goalkeeper played well, obstructing the efforts he faced from the opponent in Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan Stadium. Although Barcelona was leading in the match, it missed many opportunities and fought to create chances but could not. As Seville inaugurated the game with some good scoring, it eventually threatened on counter-attacks.

Messi wanted to combine his 142 with Argentina by making his 758th appearance with Barcelona. He was unable to bring much significance to it. Although he called for the attack, he could not rule on his chance, even the one with Bono, which was to beat in 11 minutes. Unfortunately, his stoppage-time free-kick was stopped by Bono, which was a huge disappointment. 

Messi appeared in the second half of the Spanish League game against Real Betis on Sunday. He came forward to lead his team to come-from-behind triumph.

Seville was strategized by Konde in the 25th time to gain a nice run as it slipped in between the legs of Samuel Umtiti who is a Barcelona defender prior to shooting off to the net. 

Goalkeeper Marc Andre Ter Stefan was defeated by Rakitic, as he gained victory in the 85th-minute breakaway with a dramatic shot at the top of the net. The midfielder was disheartened enough not to show any sort of happiness for the victory of the former club. 

Koeman was already at loss by losing three of the most important players to injury. Among them are Martin Braithwaite, Sergio Dest, and Miranem Pjanic. Players like Lukas Ocampos and Jesus Navas were also injured and were absent from Lopetegui’s team.