TOO LIGHTLY

They then thrashed German champions Bayern Munich 4-0 in the Hans Gamper trophy on Tuesday and the air of confidence surrounding them was such that they probably took Sevilla too lightly.

The Catalan side will need to step up a gear for the challenges ahead, starting with the opening phase of the Champions League, for which they were drawn with Chelsea in a tough group.

"I'm very disappointed we couldn't beat a Sevilla side who were very well organised," said Barcelona coach Frank Rijkaard.

"They could play their game and we were not able to play ours. It's not that we didn't want to but we ran into a solid defence and failed to dictate play.

"Losing a title match is not a good thing. We must think about what happened tonight carefully and get back to work."

The first chance in Friday's game was for Sevilla with a header by French defender Julien Escude on four minutes that failed to surprise Barca keeper Victor Valdes.

Sevilla threatened again shortly after opening the scoring with a diving header from Fabiano.

Barcelona hardly created a clear chance in the first 45 minutes.

Rijkaard's men looked slightly more dangerous after new signing Eidur Gudjohnsen came on in the second half. The Iceland striker came close to scoring with an angled effort from inside the box on 62 minutes.

Sevilla, however, remained in control until Maresca sealed a convincing victory in an electric atmosphere provided by the 18,500 Spanish fans packed into the tiny Monaco stadium.