PREVIEW: FC Barcelona v Sevilla
In order to keep pace with the leaders, Barça need to take three points from what’s expected to be a tough game against Sevilla.
How to follow the game live
The match kicks off at 9.00pm CEST. A list of broadcasters can be found here and these are the timetables for the rest of the world.
The Rival
Stadium: Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán
Coach: Julen Lopetegui
La Liga Record (2019/20): P7 W4 D1 L2 F10 A7
Former Blaugranas in the squad: Munir El Haddadi, Nolito
Interesting stats and facts
Sevilla have won just once out of the last 24 league games against Barça (L18 D5), keeping a clean sheet in only one of those matches.
Barça have lost one of their last 58 league games at Camp Nou (Real Betis, Nov 2018), winning 48 and drawing nine.
Sevilla are Leo Messi’s favourite opponent. He’s scored 36 goals against them, 21 of which have come at the Camp Nou.
Barça have beaten Sevilla 82 times in La Liga, more than any other team has managed against the Andalusians.
Munir El Haddadi has scored in two of his three games against Barça since leaving the club.
Last time we met
On both occasions last season, Barça triumphed 4-2 against the Andalusians, but the victory in Seville was notable for Lionel Messi’s incredible hat-trick.
The blaugrana had gone behind twice in the match through Jesús Navas and Gabriel Mercado, but each time Messi responded, the first with a sumptuous volley.
A chip on 85 minutes put the visitors ahead for the first time in the match before Luis Suárez rounded things off in injury time.
Squad
For this match, Ernesto Valverde has had to deal with the losses of Umtiti and Junior due to injury, as well as the absence of Lenglet, because of his red card against Getafe.
M. Wague and Aleñá are left out by technical decision but Jordi Alba and Ansu Fati have been given the all clear to return. The big news is the first call up into the senior side for Ronald Araújo of Barça B.
The coach has named a 19 man squad for Sunday night’s encounter and the list is as follows:
Ter Stegen, N. Semedo, Piqué, I. Rakitic, Sergio, Todibo, Arthur, Suárez, Messi, O. Dembélé, Neto, Griezmann, Jordi Alba, S. Roberto, F. De Jong, Vidal, C. Pérez, Ansu Fati and R. Araujo.