Asisat Oshoala bags assist as Sevilla end Barcelona longest winning run

By Oyediji Oluwaseun Babatunde

Nigeria forward, Asisat Oshoala bagged her third assist of the season for Barcelona as Sevilla FC ended the team’s longest unbeaten run after a 1-1 draw in a rescheduled  Spanish top-flight encounter on Wednesday.

With two league games left, the Spanish Liga F champions dropped their first points this season, the match ending 1-1 against Sevilla at a Jesús Navas Stadium, with Crnogorčević grabbing the equaliser with just 10 minutes from time.

Jonathan Giraldez’s side had last suffered a slip in a 0-0 against Atlético Madrid way back in 2020 and since then, the only side to beat Barcelona in 2021, with the Catalans winning every other league game until Wednesday.

Barcelona starting lineup against Sevilla featured three youth players, namely Vicky López, Lucía Corrales, and Martina Fernández. It was the latter who actually had a good chance to break the deadlock, but her header was saved by Sevilla keeper Sullastres.

Another good team move also saw Jana Fernández come close to applying the finish as Barça exerted their usual control throughout the half, 0-0 at the break.

Sevilla managed to take the lead just eight minutes after the restart from a great counter-attack. A super ball from the right found Martín-Prieto Gutiérrez in the middle, who shot through Paños’ legs to make it 1-0.

The goal spurred Giráldez to introduce Alexia Putellas, Mapi Leon, and Oshoala in the 66th minute, but it was actually Geyse who came closest to scoring when she hit the crossbar.

As the clock was ticking down and a surprise defeat was on the cards, a melee after a corner saw Oshoala lay the ball back to Crnogorčević who rifled in the ball to make it 1-1.

Barça pinned Sevilla back in the final 10 minutes, but the winning goal simply wouldn’t come.

Oshoala has scored 21 goals with five assists in the Spanish league this season for Barcelona, while Toni Payne replaced Arola Aparicio for Sevilla in the 68th minute.

The  league unbeaten run continues for the Catalans but the team’s world record of 63 straight league wins ended with the draw.