Barcelona suffers Cup defeat at home to Sevilla
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Reigning Copa del Rey champions FC Barcelona has an uphill task to reach the quarter finals of the competition after suffering a shock 2-1 defeat at home to Sevilla on Tuesday.
The result means that Barcelona has to score at least two goals in next week's return leg in Sevilla's Sanchez Pizjuan stadium.
The good news for Barcelona fans was that central defender Gabriel Milito returned to the starting line up for the first time in a year and a half after suffering a knee injury at the end of the 2007/08 season.
Bojan was also given a rare start, while Xavi Hernandez started on the substitute's bench, while young midfielder Thiago was also given the chance to start.
Sevilla meanwhile was without strikers Luis Fabiano and Freddy Kanoute, meaning Aruna Kone led the line for the visitors.
The first half was a close fought affair with both sides working hard in midfield, however, Barca had slightly the better of the chances and Leo Messi was unlucky to see his shot bounce back off the post after 21 minutes.
The second half saw Sevilla replace injured winger Jesus Navas with attacking midfielder Renato.
Far from taking away from Sevilla's threat, the loss of the pacy Navas helped make his side more solid in the middle of the park and the visitors took the lead after an hour.
Renato was the supplier to David Capel and the winger fired home from just inside the Barcelona area.
The home side thought it had equalized after 71 minutes when Xavi, who had just come on as a substitute, volleyed past Sevilla keeper Andres Palop only for referee Perez Burrull to rule his effort out for a supposed foul from Ibrahimovich.
Four minutes later Ibrahimovich did level the score after rounding Palop and slotting the ball into an empty net, but a loss on concentration in the Barca defense gifted Sevilla the win.
Dymtro Chygrynski allowed Capel to get past him and the winger took advantage of an untidy challenge to go down in the area.
Burrull gave a penalty and Alvaro Negredo made no mistake from the spot to give Barcelona a mountain to climb in the return leg.
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