IN SPORT.ES
Barcelona have work to do to keep their Copa del Rey campaign alive this season after they were beaten 2-0 by Sevilla at the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan on Wednesday.
Pablo Sarabia and Wissam Ben Yedder got the goals after the break as a much-changed Barca side were easily beaten in Seville.
The two sides will meet again in the second leg of this quarterfinal tie at Camp Nou next Wednesday.
Barca, who came from 2-1 down to beat Levante in the last round, will have to come from behind again if they want to win the Spanish cup for a fifth successive season.
Ernesto Valverde may well make changes next week. Lionel Messi and Sergio Busquets didn't even travel to Seville for this one, while Luis Suarez, Jordi Alba and Philippe Coutinho were all left on the bench. Ousmane Dembele is injured.
There was a debut for Kevin Prince Boateng and there were also starts for Carles Alena and Malcom. And Nelson Semedo -- at left-back.
Barca looked OK in the first half but Sevilla had the best chances. They had a penalty appeal turned down for an Arturo Vidal handball and Ben Yedder fired wide after twisting past four players in the box.
Sevilla upped the tempo in the second period and Barca's defence struggled. Sergi Roberto and Gerard Pique were pulled out of position by Quincy Promes and the pacy winger's cross was converted by Sarabia at the far post.
Suarez and Coutinho came on but things didn't change. In fact, the latter gave the ball away in the build-up to Sevilla's second goal, with Ben Yedder scoring from close range. The striker then revealed a T-shirt in support of "my brother" Emiliano Sala, the Cardiff City forward whose plane went missing earlier this week.
Barca have work to do next week. A Sevilla away goal would leave them needing four to progress. Maybe Messi can help them this time?