Barcelona will be making the trip to Andalucia to play Sevilla at the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan on Matchday 25 of La Liga Santander. The two teams are scheduled to clash twice in the space of four days, once in the Primera Division and once in the Copa del Rey.
Barcelona are trailing by two goals in the Cup fixture and might use this League clash as a trial and error match just before the return leg at Camp Nou on Wednesday evening. Julen Lopetegui has gotten the better of Ronald Koeman once already and was able to snatch a point from their La Liga clash earlier in October. It will be interesting to see who comes out on top when these two teams clash this week. The 4th Official’s Tactical Preview for the Sevilla – Barcelona fixture –
Team News
Sevilla
Marcus Acuna and Lucas Ocampos are currently injured and will not be a part of the proceedings at the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan Stadium on Saturday evening. Former Barcelona midfielder Ivan Rakitic is expected to start this fixture for Julen Lopetegui’s side.
Predicted XI – Bounou, Rekik, Kounde, Carlos, Vidal; Rakitic, Fernando, Jordan; Gomez, Suso, En-Nesyri
Barcelona
Ronald Koeman will be without the services of Philippe Coutinho, Ansu Fati and Sergi Roberto who are currently nursing injuries. Ronald Araujo, who was expected to be fit in time for this fixture, might not be able to make it in time for the Catalans. Griezmann and Busquets sat out on the bench against Elche but will be making their return to the starting eleven on Saturday.
Predicted XI – Ter Stegen, Dest, Pique, Umtiti, Alba, De Jong, Busquets, Pedri, Dembele, Messi, Griezmann
Sevilla Vs Barcelona Tactical Preview
Talking Tactics
Sevilla
Sevilla are currently going through a six-game unbeaten streak and it seems like it is going to be an uphill task for Ronald Koeman & Co. The Andalusians firepower in front of goal is well known and Youssef En-Nesyri has been in destructive form this season. The striker might just be able to exploit the shaky looking Barcelona defence which has been all over the place against quality opposition. Suso and Rakitic will also be crucial for Sevilla who were comfortable against Barcelona last time around despite not enjoying the lions share of possession. Munir El Haddadi is another player the Catalans will have to be cautious about who could make an impact on the game off the substitutes bench.
Barcelona
The Catalans have their task cut beforehand by Ronald Koeman. The Catalans can not afford to drop any more points in the Primera Division title race with Atletico Madrid and Real Madrid getting the results week-in and week-out. In recent matches, it has seemed like the Cules have lacked creativity and the ball ends up being passed around in the midfield and not in the particularly dangerous areas of the pitch where Koeman would have liked. It will be a fundamental part of the Dutchman’s plans to have Messi on the ball as much as possible.
Sevilla Vs Barcelona Tactical Preview
Key Men
Sevilla
The hosts will obviously be reliant on their target man, Youssef En-Nesyri upfront. The striker has already found the back of the net on 17 occasions this season and Julen Lopetegui will be expecting another special night from his Moroccan striker. If Barcelona are unable to mark him well enough, it could turn out to be a huge disaster for the Catalans. A striker of En-Nesyri’s quality would be lethal against any of Europe’s top teams.
Barcelona
It will not be too hard to guess who Barcelona’s most important player on the field of play would be. The team has been centric to Lionel Messi under several managers and under the tutelage of Ronald Koeman, it is not different either. Every time Barcelona need some sort of magic or inspiration, all the hopes are immediately glued to Lionel Messi. The Argentine has been shouldering the weight of the team in recent fixtures and Sevilla will be just another task for him. Messi could potentially drop deep against the opposition from Andalusia in order to have more of the ball and weave his magic thereby.
FT Prediction : Sevilla 2-2 Barcelona
