Diego Capel and Alvaro Negredo scored at the Camp Nou to give Sevilla a 2-1 win over holders Barcelona in the first leg of their King’s Cup last-16 tie on Tuesday.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic had canceled out Capel’s 59th-minute strike with a cool finish 18 minutes from time, but Barca conceded a penalty almost immediately and Negredo restored Sevilla’s one-goal cushion for next week’s return leg.
Pep Guardiola’s side have made a lackluster start to the New Year after drawing their first game since the winter break at home to Villarreal in La Liga on Saturday.
PHOTO: AFP
“Sevilla were deserved winners and have made the tie very difficult for us,” Barca president Joan Laporta told Canal Plus television.
Guardiola sent out a weakened team against Sevilla, including Argentina defender Gabriel Milito, who was making his return to action after a season and a half out with a knee ligament injury.
Barca dominated a poor first half, with Lionel Messi hitting the woodwork, and Guardiola turned to substitute Ibrahimovic to pep up the attack after the break.
Sevilla scored first, however, when the lively Diego Perotti burst down the left and crossed for an unmarked Capel to score at the far post.
Ibrahimovic broke the offside trap racing on to Rafael Marquez’s long pass and rounded the keeper to equalize, but the score only remained level for two minutes.
An out-of-sorts Dmytro Chygrynskiy pulled back Capel as he dribbled into the area, conceding a penalty and Negredo made no mistake from the spot.
■SANCHEZ ‘SHATTERED’
AP, BARCELONA, SPAIN
Sevilla defender Sergio Sanchez said on Tuesday he is “shattered and devastated” that he has a heart ailment.
The 23-year-old Sanchez told local news channel TV3 that he “must think positively” and will undergo further tests in the coming days to determine whether he has a future playing soccer.
Sevilla announced on Friday that medical tests had revealed Sanchez has a heart condition requiring him to stop all physical activity.
Sanchez visited his teammates in a hotel in his native city of Barcelona on Tuesday ahead of their King’s Cup game against Barca.
Another Sevilla player, Antonio Puerta, collapsed during a 2007 league game and died three days later following a prolonged cardiac arrest at age 22. Espanyol captain Daniel Jarque died of heart failure last year in a hotel. He was 26.
“The families of Jarque and Puerta would pay to be in my shoes,” Sanchez said.
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