Former Sergio Ramos, a Real Madrid defender, scored his own goal to give Barcelona a 1-0 victory over Sevilla.
After their midweek 2-2 draw against Mallorca, Xavi’s team appeared headed for a second straight La Liga draw until Ramos’ own goal with 14 minutes left.
The victory moves Barcelona to the top of the standings, one point ahead of Girona and two points ahead of Real Madrid before their Saturday matchup in Catalonia.
Xavi made four adjustments after Tuesday’s stalemate at Mallorca, bringing back Robert Lewandowski to the starting lineup. In defense, Jules Kounde partnered with Andreas Christensen, and 16-year-old Lamine Yamal had a start as well.
Ramos, 37, was one of five changes for Sevilla for their trip to Barcelona’s temporary home at the Estadi Olimpic Lluis Companys. Ramos spent 16 years at the Bernabeu and two seasons with Paris Saint-Germain before returning to his childhood club last month.
Sevilla came into the game on Friday night undefeated in their previous four games and hot off a 5-1 thrashing of Almeria the previous week, but the hosts had the better of the opening exchanges thanks in large part to Joao Felix.
First, a low effort from the Portuguese forward on loan from Atletico Madrid required a superb save from Orjan Nyland. After a nice build-up play by Joao Cancelo, Felix then rattled the woodwork from six yards out midway through the first quarter.
Substitute Just before the break, Fermin Lopez missed a fantastic opportunity when his effort from Yamal’s cross was directed straight at a grateful Nyland.
After the intermission, the opportunities continued to favor the home team. On the hour mark, Nyland’s legs stopped a close-range shot from Lewandowski, and shortly after that, the remarkable Yamal pulled an attempt wide. Later, Loic Bade headed Lewandowski’s shot in the right direction.Barcelona may have wondered whether it would be one of those nights, but 75 minutes had passed when they received a lifeline.
Inadvertently scoring past Nyland was Ramos, an ex-Real defender who scored five goals in 33 appearances against Barcelona when Yamal’s header back across goal from Ferran Torres’ cross fell into his path.From there, a traumatized soldier Barcelona played the entire game, including an additional five minutes, to secure the league’s top spot, and Sevilla never seemed to have a chance to get back into it.