Barcelona's Comeback Victory Over Sevilla: Raphinha's Hat-Trick

Barcelona had to dig deep in Seville, but they walked out of the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan with their perfect La Liga record intact and a statement from their new spearhead. A 3-1 comeback win over Sevilla delivered a seventh straight league victory, another Raphinha hat-trick, and a reminder that Hansi Flick is not afraid to trust his instincts.

Raphinha the No 9, and the turnaround

Sevilla struck first. On 19 minutes, Youssouf Fofana punished a sloppy Barcelona start, finishing to give the home crowd exactly what they wanted: noise, belief, and a vulnerable league leader.

The response was instant.

Three minutes later, Andreas Christensen split the lines with a precise ball and Raphinha, now living as a central striker after the summer departures of Robert Lewandowski and Ferran Torres, levelled the match. One touch, one finish, and the tone of his night was set.

Barcelona still stumbled through much of that first half. Flick’s side were loose in possession, too open between the lines, and grateful that Sevilla lacked the cutting edge to turn pressure into a second goal. But once the teams came back out, the game belonged to one man.

The pressure finally told after the interval. Twice, Lamine Yamal found space and picked the right pass. Twice, Raphinha was ruthless. His movement from that central role dragged Sevilla’s defence around, his finishing did the rest. By the time his third flew in, he had secured his second hat-trick in 72 hours and moved to 14 goals in all competitions this season.

Barcelona, ragged early on, were suddenly cruising.

Livakovic’s debut call – and a manager’s gut

Behind that attacking flourish, another story quietly unfolded. Dominik Livakovic, on debut, stood in goal where many expected to see Wojciech Szczesny. The Croatian looked assured, handling Sevilla’s sporadic threats and helping Pau Cubarsi and Eric Garcia keep the hosts at arm’s length as the game tilted Barcelona’s way.

The real surprise had come before kick-off. Flick had previously hinted that Szczesny was his second choice, yet when it came to this match, he went with a different feeling.

"As you know, sometimes it’s not only about analysing everything. Sometimes it’s also about the feeling," Flick said afterwards via SPORT. "I think my feeling today was like this, so I spoke with the coaches and then we made this decision. So it’s about the feeling. It doesn’t mean that we analysed it and decided that we don’t believe in Szczesny or anything like that. But for me, today, I think this was the right decision."

Livakovic justified that call with a calm, controlled display. Flick, though, was careful not to turn one selection into a headline about hierarchy.

"He was good. But in the end, it’s a decision I made, you know. I said that before, of course. Sometimes you see a player and you feel that this player might perhaps be the first option in this position, and you make a different decision. That’s what happened. It’s not such a big thing. This decision is only for this match."

The weight of a deep bench

Seven wins from seven, 21 points, top of La Liga. On paper, Flick’s start looks almost effortless. The reality, he admitted, is far more complicated.

The biggest strain is not the opposition. It is the names he leaves sitting beside him.

"In the end, to be honest with you, for me this is the hardest thing at the moment. I know everyone can be happy because we have enormous quality in the squad. But for me it’s not easy," he said. "When I look at the bench and see that Gavi won’t play, Xavi [Espart] can’t play, [Jules] Kounde can’t play, Szczesny can’t play, it’s not easy.

"It’s not easy for me either because I’m close to everyone, I’m with everyone, and still I have to make these decisions. In the end, that’s how it is. I’m always thinking about the team. There is nothing personal. It’s about the team. That’s why we made this decision. In the end, yes, that’s my job. But it’s not easy at the moment."

On a night when Raphinha embraced a new role, Livakovic seized a chance born from a manager’s instinct, and Barcelona’s winning run stretched on, Flick’s challenge came into sharper focus: how long can he keep a squad this stacked, this restless, and this ambitious pulling in the same direction?