Sevilla have defeated Barcelona in La Liga for the first time since March 2007, beating the Catalans 2-1 and denying them the chance to move to the top of the table.

The hosts started brightly but were almost pegged back in the fifth minute when Neymar found space in the box and let fly, forcing a save out of goalkeeper Sergio Rico.

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Barca applied more pressure in the 10th minute as Sergio Busquets headed the ball down for Munir El Haddadi to strike inside the box, but the winger blazed his effort over the bar.

Sevilla came within inches of pegging the champions back in the 13th minute when Marco Andreolli got his head to Michael Krohn-Dehli's looping cross and nodded just wide.

The visitors came agonisingly close to an opener in the 23rd minute as Neymar's free kick came back off the inside of the post and caused a goalmouth scramble before being hacked clear.

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Barca powered forward again six minutes before half time as Luis Suarez curled an effort towards the top corner, but his strike came back off the bar and the two sides went into the break level.

The visitors were left ruing their missed opportunities early in the second period when Krohn-Dehli broke the deadlock for Sevilla, poking home Kevin Gameiro's low cross following a swift break.

It was 2-0 in the 58th minute when Krohn-Dehli swung an inviting cross into the box and Vicente Iborra took advantage of slack defending from Barca to nod in Sevilla's second.

Barca were handed a lifeline in the 73rd minute when Benoit Tremoulina handled inside the box and the referee pointed to the spot. Neymar stepped up and burried the penalty to put the visitors back in the match.

The Catalans' best chance to equalise came in the 79th minute when Suarez lined up Sandro inside the box, but the Spaniard could only crash his effort against the post.

Sevilla battled through four agonising minutes of injury time to secure only their second win of the season.