Jordi Alba, Gavi, Raphinha score in Barcelona’s 3-0 drubbing of Sevilla

Barcelona, Feb 6 (EFE).- Barcelona drubbed Sevilla 3-0 at Spotify Camp Nou on Sunday on second-half goals by Jordi Alba, Pablo Paez “Gavi” and Raphael Dias “Raphinha,” thus opening up an 8-point gap in the La Liga table and taking advantage of Real Madrid’s 1-0 loss to Mallorca earlier in the day to cement its position at the top of the heap.

The Catalans have dropped only seven points so far this season in La Liga play, while Sevilla extended its winless streak in regular competition at Camp Nou and remaining just two points above the relegation threshold.

At last, Barcelona enjoyed a match with a relatively quiet final stretch, something it hadn’t experienced since its 2-0 win over Almeria back on Nov. 5. In its six matches prior to Sunday’s win, the Catalans won five and tied one, but the five victories were by only one goal each.

Barca team captain Sergio Busquets went down with an injury just a few minutes into play and was replaced by Franck Kessie, but Xavi Hernandez’s men managed to control the ball throughout much of the match, although they were not able to get themselves on the board before the break, with Sevilla netminder Yassine Bounou making a pair of fabulous saves on shots by Robert Lewandowski.

After the intermission, Barcelona seemed to get the wind behind it, with Kessie in minute 58 sending the ball to Alba, who had slipped in behind the visitors’ defense and struck from close range for the 1-0.

In the 71st minute, it was Raphinha darting down the right side and manufacturing a perfect pass to Gavi, who needed only to touch it to send it home for the second tally.

Then, eight minutes later, Alba send a nice cross to Raphinha for the final goal, another point-blank shot.

With the win, Barcelona is eight points in front of No. 2 Real Madrid and 14 points clear of No. 3 Real Sociedad, and the team has never lost a La Liga title when ahead by eight points or more.

Lineups:

Barcelona: Ter Stegen; Kounde, Araujo (Marcos Alonso, min. 80), Christensen, Jordi Alba (Balde, min. 83); Busquets (Kessie, min. 8), Frenkie de Jong, Pedri; Raphinha (Ferran Torres, min. 83), Lewandowski and Gavi (Ansu Fati, min. 80).

Sevilla: Bounou; Montiel, Bade, Rekik, Acuña (Ocampos, min. 65); Pape Gueye (Fernando, min. 83), Joan Jordan; Gudelj, Oliver Torres (Bryan Gil, min. 46), Rakitic; and En-Nesyri (Lamela, min. 46).

EFE sej/fa/bp