FC Barcelona came into Saturday’s match against Sevilla needing a win to control their destiny. Holding a one-point lead over Real Madrid in the league a tie or a loss would be disastrous for the title hopes. Sevilla on the other hand were in need of a victory to keep their Champions League dreams alive as they are battling to stay ahead of Mallorca for fourth place.

Pep Guardiola’s side started off strong with Messi, Pedro and Bojan up front for the Blaugrana. It only took three minutes for Barça to mount their first attack when Messi setup Dani Alves out on the wing for a shot that was scooped up by Palop.

In the fifth minute Maxwell served up a perfect lob to Lionel Messi just at the top of the box. Messi controlled the pass with his chest, dribble inside and fired low toward the right post sending the ball just below the diving Palop and giving his side the early lead. For Messi it would be his 32nd goal of the season and all but assuring that the Argentine would take home the Pichichi Trophy next week.

Barcelona continued to control the pace of the match not allowing Sevilla to even enter their side of the pitch until the tenth minute. It was looking like Sevilla were going to be in for a very night as Guardiola’s men looked determined to put the match out of reach early on.

In the 23rd minute Pedro had a chance to get on the board when he headed a cross by Dani Alves off the bounce but was unable to control the ball enough and sent it high over the crossbar.

Sevilla gave up possession deep in their territory in the 28th minute and Barcelona capitalized. Dani Alves controlled the stolen ball in Sevilla territory and sent in a cross that was deflected to Xavi. Xavi volleyed the deflection brilliantly to a streaking Bojan Krkic who was able to hold off Konko and change direction on Palop giving Barça a two goal lead and Krkic his third in as many games.

Sevilla’s first real opportunity would come in minute 34 when Navas was able to cross to a wide open Capel but his header was sent directly to Valdes who easily made the save.

Three minutes later Dani Alves sent in a cross to Messi right in front of the goal but Messi could not keep his shot down and sent the ball high over the post in a very “un-Messi like” miss.

Just before halftime Sevilla came very close to cutting Barça’s lead when Fabiano brought down a pass in the box and fired. Valdes dove to his right and was able to make the save of the night sending the ball out of play.

At the halftime whistle it was Barcelona holding on to their two goal lead and 62 to 38 percent advantage in ball possession.

Ten minutes into the second half Sevilla’s Konko pulled down Bojan from behind and was handed his second yellow card of the night giving Barça a man advantage for the remainder of the match.

With the advantage Barcelona continued to attack and came close to adding a third when Messi and Bojan played a little give and go but Messi’s attempt was deflected by Palop holding the lead to two.

In the 61st minute Barcelona would extend their lead finally to three goals when a deflected shot by Messi found its way to Pedro who quickly sent in his attempt from outside the box beating Palop.

A few minutes later Bojan had a chance to put the match on ice when Lionel Messi found him wide open at the back of the goal but his shot was sent wide left missing a wide open net.

The miss by Bojan would serve as the turning point in the match for Sevilla who with a man down mounted their comeback scoring two goals in two minutes coming off of Kanoute and Fabiano respectively.

Following the two goal explosion by Sevilla Guardiola was able to come down his men and they were able to shut down Sevilla for the remainder of the match and hold on to their one goal lead.

The victory by Barcelona along with Real Madrid’s convincing 5-1 thumping of Bilbao means that the La Liga title will be decided in the final week against Valladolid. A win by FC Barcelona would assure them the title; it would be their second in as many years.