Xavi leaves Barcelona on a high with 2-1 win in Seville

Although there was little to nothing to play for in Seville on Sunday as Sevilla hosted Barcelona in the last La Liga game of the season and Xavi’s last game in charge of Barcelona, the Blaugrana managed to end the season on a high with a 2-1 victory.

Xavi left the Catalan club in style with his fourth consecutive victory in the league with a victory over the hosts who were also bidding farewell to their manager Quique Sánchez Flores. Although Quique Flores joined the Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán-side in December, he won’t be leading the team out of the tunnel next season.

However, Barcelona scored the first goal of the game with barely 15 minutes gone as Pedri’s back-heel to João Cancelo saw the Portuguese locate Robert Lewandowski with a brilliant floated cross as the Polish forward converted brilliantly.

Fifteen minutes later, Sevilla struck back courtesy of Youssef En-Nesyri’s close-range finish from aBoubakary Soumaré pass. The scoreline could have been higher in a pulsating first half with both sides hitting the post. Pedri first smashed the bar before Sevilla midfielder Boubakary Soumare found the post with a header that had Marc-André ter Stegen scampering.

In the second half, the visitors continued to torment their hosts and their dominance paid off as young star Fermin López scored from the edge of the box to put the Catalans back in the lead on the hour mark.

The result remained that way till the end as Sevilla finished the season in a disappointing 14th place, while Barcelona ended the campaign in second after initially conceding their title to fierce rivals Real Madrid.

Meanwhile, Hansi Flick will take over at Barcelona next season after he was confirmed as the club’s new manager during the previous week.

Girona’s Artem Dovbyk ended the season as the 2023/24 La Liga top scorer with 24 goals, 1 more than Villarreal’s Alex Sørloth.