Messi, Suarez save Barcelona from first loss with 2-2 tie

A goal by Luis Suarez at the 88th minute and another by Leo Messi in the same minute erased the comfortable 2-0 score with which Sevilla was winning until late in the game, and left Barcelona unbeaten in La Liga, though it came close to posting its first loss.

A goal by Franco "Mudo" Vazquez at 30 minutes on Saturday put Sevilla ahead 1-0 on the scoreboard at the home team's Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan Stadium, reports Efe.

The match was fought on even terms throughout the first half, with Barcelona looking to dominate but with a combative Sevilla that never made things easy, to the point that it ended the first half with a 1-0 lead following a goal by Franco Vazquez at the 36th minute.

Then, just four minutes into the second half, Muriel very quickly got Sevilla its second score, making it 2-0, and Barcelona had its work cut out for it.

At that point Ernesto Valverde sent Leo Messi into the game to try and fix the problem - and with a goal by Luis Suarez and another by Messi, Barca was saved from its first loss.

Ernesto Valverde preferred not to force Messi, who is suffering from muscular pains, and left him on the bench to see how the match went. Another important Barca absence was the injured Sergio Busquets.

The Barca team tried from the start to show that it does not wholly depend on Messi but that it could dominate the field without him against a fast-moving rival that piled on the pressure.

Luis Suarez threatened the home team in the first 10 minutes of the game with a shot at goal, which, however missed its mark, and after that scare came another when Joaquin "Tucu" Correa got off his shot a little too slowly.

Those two attempts, however, seemed to get Sevilla up and running to make life difficult for Barca. And so it did, racking up a 2-0 lead by the start of the second half - only to face a Barca comeback that ended the game with a 2-2 tie.

--IANS

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