Introduction
Sevilla and Fc Barcelona meet again in a span of few days. As the Catalan club welcome the team from Seville at their home in a bid to make a comeback against them in the Copa Del Rey. If Barcelona manages to beat the Seville-based team, they’ll face either Athletic Bilbao or Levante in the finals of the Copa Del Rey.
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Why Should You be Watching?
Sevilla heads into the game with a two-goal advantage, the result of the first leg of the game which happened in Estadio Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan. Barca defeated them by the same scoreline in their home, but not in Copa Del Rey but in La Liga. They’ll be looking to make another comeback especially like the ones they did against Granada. They’ve also got the home advantage of the Magnificent Camp Nou for them along with the likes of the best player Lionel Messi. Lionel Messi will once again be looking to haunt his favorite opponent team and score against them.
Barcelona was in the news for the wrong reasons the past week. Now they’ll look to be in the news for the right reasons and send a strong statement to opponents in La Liga as well as to PSG by making a strong comeback against a strong Sevilla Side. Barcelona is the record 30-time winner of the Copa Del Rey. They will be looking to extend their pedigree in the cup again as they try to beat Sevilla.
Build Up
Joules Kounde and Ivan Rakitic were the ones who scored the goals for Sevilla in the first leg. Which gave them a comfortable 2 goal cushion. However, Julien Lopetegui will know that a two-goal cushion is not going to be enough as they lost to a confident Barcelona side by the same margin a few days ago.
While Barcelona may not have a great chance in the La Liga and their Champions League hopes are as good as finished, they have the Copa Del Rey as their most realistic chance of winning Silverware. Meanwhile, Sevilla faces a similar situation like Barcelona in the La Liga but they still have a chance in the Champions League but Julien Lopetegui will go all out in for the Copa Del Rey as well.
Barcelona Copa del Rey form: WWWL
Barcelona form (all competitions): LWLDWW
Sevilla Copa del Rey form: WWWWWW
Sevilla form (all competitions): WWWLWL
Team News and Line-ups
Barcelona
Barcelona’s win against Sevilla did come at a cost. Gerard Pique was brought off as a precautionary measure. Also, it appeared that both Ronaldo Araujo and Pedri were off injured. Barcelona will be missing the services of Ansu Fati, Sergi Roberto, and Phillipe Coutinho while Miralem Pjanic is a doubt for the clash.
Possible starting lineup
GK- Ter Stegen
DEFENCE – Mingueza, Pique, Umtiti
Midfield – Dest, De Jong, Busquets, Puig, Alba
Attack – Messi, Dembele
Sevilla
Marcus Acuna and Lucas Ocampos are both back for Sevilla which means a worry for Barcelona. Suso, Oliver Torres and Youssef En-Nesyri all came off the bench against Barca on Saturday and will likely start this one.
Possible starting line-up
Gk- Bono
Defence – Navas, Kounde, Carlos, Vidal
Midfield- Rakitic, Gudelj, Jordan
Attack – Torres, En-Nesyri, Suso
Players to Watch Out For
Sevilla
He may be just 23 but he has the world at his feet at Sevilla. With 13 goals so far this season, En Neysri is among the contenders for the La Liga golden boot. Unfortunately, he’s yet to have any goals/assists in the Copa but that may change very soon
Rakitic
Both Barca fans, as well as Seville lovers, enjoyed a heartwarming moment in the first leg when Rakitic didn’t want to celebrate a goal against his former club. That being said, the Croatian is very well aware of his duties for his current club and certainly possesses the vigor to keep Barca at bay.
Bono
The Sevilla keeper has had arguably the best run in recent weeks keeping an insane amount of minutes going without conceding, something only halted thanks to an unreal Messi pass and Dembele finish.
Barcelona
Messi
Words wouldn’t suffice if we started to mention what Messi brings to every game, if not football as a whole. The world’s top scorer in 2021 has won back his greed for topping the charts and if his mood served him right, There’s nothing that can stop barça from reaching the finals.
Frenkie DE Jong
The Dutchman has been something not short of a sensation acting as a CB, CDM, Cm, and even rushing forward whilst netting goals, all while dribbling past players for fun ! Is this finally the version of FDJ that barça paid 75 million for ? We’d bet it is!
Dembele
Ever since Koeman arrived, it is almost as if Dembele has grown into the player he used to be back at Dortmund. The French youngster has had many chances and has proven his worth to the club time and again with his silky dribbles and ambidextrous shooting. The pacy Frenchman has taken a slight surge recently and has already evolved into a more mature forward, with his finishing being his only “drawback”. The difference between Barça and Sevilla could well come down to this man’s speed.
Conclusion
Expect an evenly balanced game with both the sides threatening each other regularly. If Barca plan to overturn this lead, they will surely have to pump up their attack with extra ammunition. Sevilla currently possesses the second-best defence in the league (18), only two behind the best defence that is Atletico Madrid. Their goal-scoring prowess too has been in fine form and Barca will have to play a well balanced game, paying attention to both attack as well as defence. Surely the team that pulled the La Rematonda against PSG after going 4-0 would be capable of such a feat. But it’s not the same Blaugrana anymore and Sevilla can be much more ferocious if needed.
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