PREVIEW | FC Barcelona v Sevilla FC
After the vital LaLiga win against Sevilla last Saturday, Barça will look to turn the 0-2 deficit around this Wednesday (9.00pm CET) and qualify for another Copa del Rey final
Sevilla
This Wednesday will be the fourth game against Sevilla this season, the third in the last four weeks and the second in four days. The Andalusians, despite the defeat against Barça last Saturday, arrive with the advantage from the first leg. Lopetegui will not be able to count on the injured Lucas Ocampos and Marcos Acuña, but Jesús Navas, En-Nesyri, Koundé, Fernando, Diego Carlos and Joan Jordán, among others, are fit to play.
Coach: Julen Lopetegui
Copa del Rey results: 6W-0D-0L
Top scorer (Copa del Rey): De Jong (3 goals)
Ex-Barça players: Lopetegui, Sergi Gómez, Aleix Vidal, Rakitic, Munir
Precedents
In the games earlier this season, there have been a mixed bag of results. Last time out, just this past weekend, Barça's best performance of the season saw them win 0-2 at the Rámon Sánchez-Pizjuán thanks to goals from Ousmane Dembélé and Leo Messi. The first leg of the Copa semi-final in early February saw the scores reversed (2-0, Koundé, Rakitić), whilst the first LaLiga fixture of the season ended all square (1-1) with Philippe Coutinho equalising Luuk de Jong’s opener.
Did you know?
Barça have the opportunity to reach the final of the Copa del Rey for the tenth time in the 21st century. They are the most successful team in the competition (30 titles), and the one that has played the most finals in this (41).
Barça have qualified in 49 of the 93 matches in all competitions where they’ve played the second leg at home. When needing to overturn a deficit of two goals at Camp Nou, they’ve won 52.7% of the time, the last one coming against Sevilla in the quarterfinals of the Copa del Rey in 2019 - a 6-1 win after losing 2-0 at the Sánchez-Pizjuán.
Antoine Griezmann is the player who has participated in the highest number of goals in this edition of the Copa del Rey. The Frenchman has five goals in his four games (two goals and three assists, the same as Jorge Molina and Sergio León).
Ronald Koeman has progressed in all eight two-legged ties he has faced in the competition, winning the title on the only previous occasion he participated as a coach (2008 with Valencia).
Barça haven't lost against Sevilla at home in their last 15 matches in all competitions (13W 2D), and in more than half of those games (eight, 53.3%), they’ve achieved a result that would be enough to see them qualify for the final in April.
View from the bench
Ahead of Wednesday's match, Ronald Koeman noted that "the only thing we can do is focus on our work and the task in hand, which is to overcome this deficit against Sevilla."
"We know that at 2-0 against us, it is difficult to overcome, but we have options. I think we've demonstrated for some time now that the team is hungry, that we are mentally ready to take on difficult tasks but we need to show more effectiveness."
"We've created more opportunities than our opponents, so if this happens again on Wednesday, I hope that we'll be able to be more efficient."
Squad list
The full squad for the game is as follows: Ter Stegen, Dest, Piqué, Sergio, Griezmann, Braithwaite, Messi, O. Dembélé, Riqui Puig, Neto, Lenglet, Pedri, Trincao, Jordi Alba, F. De Jong, Umtiti, Junior, Iñaki Peña, Ilaix i O. Mingueza. Out through injury are R. Araujo, Pjanic, Coutinho, S. Roberto and Ansu Fati.