A preview of Barcelona's La Liga clash with Sevilla FC at the Camp Nou
FC Barcelona will be looking to equal the Spanish record of 34 matches unbeaten tomorrow when they welcome Sevilla FC to the Camp Nou. Fittingly, it was the Andalusian side who were the last to inflict defeat upon Luis Enrique’s runaway league leaders when they visited the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan, and now the Blaugrana have the chance to take revenge in quite memorable fashion. This streak has been historic, but it’s also been meaningful too.
The undefeated streak has helped us reach the final of the Copa del Rey (which will also be contested against Sevilla in May), put one foot in the quarter-finals of the UEFA Champions League, and perhaps most pertinently, establish what could be an insurmountable lead at the top of La Liga. Heck, it also played into the FIFA Club World cup triumph back in December. Unlike Real Madrid’s incredible winning streak last year, this particular stretch looks set to earn Barcelona a few titles at least.
However, the consummate professional that he is, Luis Enrique will be keen to remind his players of the task at hand; yes the record would be good to equal, but don’t get side-tracked or distracted. Just play your usual game, execute the gameplan and the rest logically should follow.
It can be expected that our tense, yet ultimately comfortable victory over Arsenal in midweek has taken something out of the squad and perhaps that is an area of concern, although Sevilla were also on European duty. Unai Emery’s side travelled to Norway on Thursday where they lost to Molde, albeit after securing a 3-0 victory in the first-leg at home. As such, they have progressed to the next round, and like the Blaugrana, will be hoping to retain their crown.
Some may look at that result and suggest that it was purely down to complacency, as the tie was admittedly over but it serves as a timely reminder of Sevilla’s abysmal away form this campaign. If we exclude the Copa del Rey for the lower league opposition, Sevilla haven’t won away from home all season and we’d have to go back to their last away game in the 2014-15 La Liga, when they defeated Malaga CF at La Rosaleda.
That’s 17 games across La Liga and all UEFA competitions. No wonder FC Barcelona are heavy favourites tomorrow.
TEAM NEWS
BARCELONA
The headline news coming out of training this morning was that Rafinha Alcantara took part in a small amount of work with the group for the first time since suffering a knee injury that could have kept him out for the rest of the season. It’s only the first step really in working with the ball, but he has to start somewhere and it’s good to know that his recovery is coming along well – and ahead of schedule.
In terms of the rest of the squad, there’s not much to consider. Arda Turan served his European suspension in midweek, and while Gerard Pique will miss the second leg of that Arsenal clash, that’s not really on the horizon just yet. There are a few players who are just one yellow away from a suspension (looking at you Dani Alves, Javier Mascherano and Neymar), but no-one is impacted tomorrow.
All this raises one question: Gala XI?
Typically, this is the type of match that we would see the strongest line-up – Sevilla are an excellent side after all – but with the Arsenal match taking a lot out of the team in midweek, I think we’ll see a couple of changes
Claudio Bravo will of course return in goal, perhaps unfairly facing renewed calls for Marc-Andre ter Stegen to replace him as Barcelona’s first choice keeper following another impressive performance from the German against Arsenal. And while ter Stegen was excellent, there’s not much to suggest that Bravo has been anything but that in La Liga – so the whole "dropping one or the other" thing that Cules like to do really isn’t going to change anything.
In defense, I suspect that Aleix Vidal may get the start against his former club as Enrique could make just one change to the backline that held firm and kept a valuable clean sheet against Arsenal on Tuesday. That would mean successive starts for Gerard Pique, Jordi Alba and Javier Mascherano – who is perhaps the only other question mark if Enrique wishes to continue his rotation with Jeremy Mathieu.
In midfield, Sergio Busquets will start at pivote, which these days almost guarantees victory, but to play it on the safe side I'd stick Sergi Roberto and Andres Iniesta in midfield alongside him anyway. The trio function well as a unit and against a Sevilla midfield that will be lacking key lynchpin, Ever Banega, they also possess the creativity to put the visitors to the sword. Which you know, is kind of the end goal for tomorrow's match.
Then of course, we get to the attack. Everyone else is fast running out of words to do them justice -- and so am I. What do I say here for example that hasn't been said before? You know who they are, you know what they do and you know Unai Emery is going to have a restless night as he attempts to formulate a plan to stop them.
SEVILLA
I touched on it earlier, but to recap the biggest piece of Sevilla team news, Ever Banega is suspended. He's arguably their best player as well, or at least one of their most influential, so that's good news for the Blaugrana. Factor in their away form and well, it's not looking all too promising for them tomorrow.
Then again, Sevilla have easily been our toughest opponent this season. Atletico have been tough, but beatable. Real... well you know, lol. Arsenal gave us one heck of a game but we did win and win relatively handily by the end of the night. Sevilla on the other hand have averaged 3 goals per game against us this season, by forcing us to extra time in the UEFA Super Cup and then easily beating us at the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan.
So I'm not prepared to write them off just yet.
FORM GUIDE
Barcelona: WDWWWW
Sevilla:
LAST MEETING
Sevilla FC 2-1 FC Barcelona - 3 October 2015 - La Liga
Inspired by a man of the match performance from Danish midfielder, Michael Krohn-Dehli, Sevilla stunned Luis Enrique's side by securing all three points off the back of a strong start to the second half.
LIKELY LINE-UPS
Barcelona (4-3-3): Bravo; Vidal, Pique, Mathieu, Alba; Busquets, Roberto, Iniesta; Messi, Suarez, Neymar
Sevilla (4-2-3-1): Rico; Coke, Rami, Kolodziejczak, Tremoulinas; Cristoforo, N'Zonzi; Vitolo, Iborra, Krohn-Dehli; Gameiro
MATCH PREDICTION
Home field takes it; 3-1 Barcelona.
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