Sevilla 2 - Barcelona 1

Sevilla: Palop; Daniel Alves, Aitor Ocio, Dragutinovic, David; Jesús Navas, Poulsen, Renato (Martí 36'), Adriano (Antonio Puerta 63'); Kerzhakov (Alfaro 75'), Kanouté. 4-4-2.
Barcelona: Víctor Valdés; Zambrotta, Oleguer, Puyol, Gio Van Bronckhorst; Xavi, Márquez (Eto'o 69'), Iniesta; Giuly, Ronaldinho (Edmilson 79'), Messi (Saviola 71'). 4-3-3.

Team changes: Sevilla: Daniel Alves, David, Adriano, Kerzhakov for Hinkel, Escudé, Duda, Luis Fabiano / Barça: Zambrotta, Márquez, Messi for Thuram, Edmilson, .

Goals:
0-1. 14. Ronaldinho. Header down past Palop from Zambrotta's cross.
1-1. 39. Kerzhakov. Picked up Alves pass and beat Valdés with shot on turn.
2-1. 61. Daniel Alves. Free kick which took deflection off wall past keeper.

Sevilla came from behind to beat Barcelona 2-1 in an incident packed match on Saturday evening. The result takes the Andalusians a point above their rivals at the top of the table. Ronaldinho headed Frank Rijkaard's side into the lead from Zambrotta's cross with a quarter of an hour gone, and they seemed to be on the way to victory when Aitor Ocio gave away a penalty on the Brazilian forward and got himself sent off a few minutes later.However Palop guessed correctly, and stuck out a foot to stop Ronaldinho's spot kick.

Iniesta had to clear a Poulsen header off the line following a corner as the ten men fought back, and Kerzakhov levelled the scores before the break, picking up a pass from Daniel Alves and beating Valdés with a shot on the turn. Messi forced a good save out of Palop after the restart, but Alves put the Andalusians in front with a free kick from the left of the area which took a slight deflection off the defensive wall.

Soon afterwards numbers were evened up when Giuly was shown a red card by referee González Vázquez, possibly for something he said as his tug on Alves's shirt didn't seem so bad. And Zambrotta followed him down the tunnel ten minutes later after being shown two yellow cards in the same incident.

With matches against Liverpool and Real Madrid coming up next week, Rijkaard opted for damage limitation, pulling off Ronaldinho to try and preserve the head-to-head goal average, in favour of his side after the 3-1 result in the Nou Camp earlier in the season. But it was touch and go as Sevilla bombarded Valdés's area, the keeper saving twice from Kanouté, who also missed a sitter and then hit the bar in injury time. A thrilling game, and Juande Ramos's side are back on top.