Philippe Coutinho thanks Leo Messi for the penalty against Sevilla in Copa del Rey!

Coutinho thanks Leo Messi as Barcelona destroyed Sevilla to progress to the next round.

Sevilla beat Barcelona, in their first match of their Copa del Rey, with a 2-0 score. It was a thoroughly deserved win for Sevilla, who outplayed their opponents. Obviously, the main reason why they beat Barca was the fact that Barcelona lacked Messi on the pitch.

Not putting Messi even on the bench was a clear mistake by Valverde as Barca faced a though second match.

There was a sense of nervousness ahead of the match in Barca's camp. This nervousness was quickly dispelled in the actual match though.

Barca took a quick lead, thanks to Coutinho's penalty goal and was having all of the possession.

There was a moment of panic when Sevilla got a penalty. Banega stepped up, but Barca's keeper Cillessen made a great save. It was a sigh of relieve from the players as this was a critical moment in this match.

If Benega would score the goal than anything could have happened. He didn't, and Barca quickly scored another goal through Sevilla's former player Ivan Rakitic.

Barca' players got completely relaxed after that second goal and scored another 4 goals to get a 6-1 win and overall 6-3 win.

One of the heroes of this match (besides Messi) was Philippe Coutinho.

Leo Messi just handed Philippe Coutinho the penalty to put Barcelona 1-0 up in their Copa del Rey quarterfinal because he's had a tough start to the season and needs a goal.



Imagine being that selfless while still outscoring everyone else by a country mile 😂 pic.twitter.com/EHWRojt8qt — Footy Accumulators (@FootyAccums) January 30, 2019

He scored two goals and showed that he does have a future at Barcelona. There was a lot of criticism of his performances, but he silenced them if only for a week.

After the match, Coutinho decided to thank Messi for letting him score that penalty goal. As reported in Barca TV, he had this to say about the whole situation.

"The penalty has come naturally. Leo's gesture shows how great it is. Thanks to Leo, for letting me kick the penalty, that's good for the confidence of the group. We knew that to overcome, we had to be involved from the beginning."

Editors' picks:

A very good gesture from Messi who is one of the best football players in the world and also a very good captain.

Barca will now face either Valencia, Betis or Real (they will probably face Real in the final) as they are aiming to win another Copa del Rey this season.