The lowdown on Sevilla FC

Barça and Sevilla meet on Sunday at 9.00pm CEST in the fourth weekend of Liga action. Here's the lowdown on a team that has not got off to the best of starts in La Liga 2022/23.

WHERE ARE THEY FROM?

The magnificent city of Seville is the capital of the most southernmost province on the European mainland, Andalusia. It is home to the world famous Alcázar palace, and very much typifies the ‘real’ Spain of flamenco, bullfighting and very hot temperatures.

HISTORY

FC Barcelona v Sevilla is a meeting of two of the oldest clubs in La Liga. Founded in 1899, Barça was for many years deemed to be the more senior of the two, but UEFA and FIFA have recently endorsed the claim that the Sevilla Football Club officially registered in 1905 was, for all effects and purposes, a continuation of the club of the same name set up by British expatriates in 1890.

Sevilla have only won La Liga once, and that was way back in 1946, and the last decade or so, with a record six UEFA Cups/Europa Leagues (2006, 2007, 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2020) has been their most successful period ever.

STADIUM

Completed in 1955 and named after an early club president, the Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán was the venue for one of the darkest days in Barça history. Barça were overwhelming favourites to beat Steaua Bucharest in the European Cup Final played here in 1986, but ended up losing on penalties following a dire 0-0 draw.

Often dubbed ‘La Bombonera de Nervión’, comparing it to the Boca Juniors stadium, it is a favourite venue for the Spanish national team, where ‘La Roja’ have never lost.

HEAD TO HEAD

Considering the Sevilla of recent years is one of the strongest ever, Barça have had some extraordinarily good results against them.

They have only lost three times to the Andalusians in their last 35 meetings across all competitions.

In La Liga, Barça have now gone for 13 games without losing to Sevilla either at home or away. The Catalans have won three of the last six league games at the Sánchez Pizjuán, and the other three games ended in draws.

Last ten meetings:
03/04/22 (LIGA) Barça 1 Sevilla 0
21/12/21 (LIGA) Sevilla 1 Barça 1
03/03/21 (C DEL REY)  Barça 3 Sevilla 0
27/02/21 (LIGA) Sevilla 0 Barça 2
10/02/21 (C DEL REY) Sevilla 2 Barça 0
04/10/20 (LIGA) Barça 1 (Coutinho) Sevilla 1
19/06/20 (LIGA) Sevilla 0 Barça 0
06/10/19 (LIGA) Barça 4 (Suárez, Vidal, Dembélé, Messi) Sevilla 0
23/02/19 (LIGA) Sevilla 2 Barça 4 (Messi 3, Suárez)
30/01/19 (C DEL REY) Barça 6 Coutinho 2, Rakitic, S Roberto, Suárez, Messi) Sevilla 1

FORM GUIDE

Sevilla were challenging for second place last season, which would have been their highest finish since 1957, but eventually had to settle for fourth. That was enough to ensure Champions League football this term, where they'll face Manchester City, Borussia Dortmund and FC Copenhagen in the group stage.

Things have not got off to the best of starts for Sevilla. They only lost four games in their last league season, and in 2022/23 they have already lost two. Osasuna, Real Valladolid and Almería shouldn't have posed too many problems for a team like Sevilla, but their only point so far was a draw at home to Valladolid (a side that Barça comfortably beat the week after).

THE PLAYERS

There have been big changes at Sevilla of late. Of course, French defender Jules Kounde is now at Barça, while Brazilian Diego Carlos departed for Aston Villa. Luuk de Jong returned from loan to Barça but was then sold to PSV, and another former blaugrana, Munir, is now at Getafe.

Ludwig Augustinsson has been loaned to Aston Villa and Anthony Martial to Man United.

New acquisitions include Marcão (Galatasaray), Tanguy Nianzou (Bayern Munich), Isco (Real Madrid) and Adnan Januzay (Real Sociedad), while Alex Telles and Kasper Dolberg have been loaned from Man United and Nice respectively.

Most capped internationals
Ivan Rakitić (Croatia, 106), Jesus Corona (Mexico, 71), Thomas Delaney (Denmark, 69), Jesús Navas (Spain, 46), Nemanja Gudelj (Serbia, 48), Youssef En-Nesyri  (Morocco, 48), Marcos Acuña (Argentina, 42), Yassine Bounou (Morocco, 43), Isco (Spain, 38), Erik Lamela (Argentina, 25), Marko Dmitrović (Serbia, 19), Gonzalo Montiel (Argentina, 16), Adnan Januzaj (Belgium, 15), Alejandro Gomez (Argentina, 14)

Barça connections
Croatian midfielder Ivan Rakitić (pictured above) requires no introduction after making 200 appearances and winning a wealth of trophies at Barça. After six seasons at Camp Nou, he returned to his former club.
Striker Rafa Mir spent two seasons at La Masia as a youngster, but it was at Valencia where he turned pro and at Huesca where he made his name before joining Sevilla in 2021..

Top scorers 2021/22 (All competitions)
Rafa Mir (13), Lucas Ocampos (9), Ivan Rakitić (7)

THE BOSS

Julen Lopetegui was a goalkeeper at Barça from 1994 to 1997, but only made five official appearances. After several years working with Spanish international youth teams, he became national manager in 2016 before being dismissed in the build-up to the 2018 World Cup after announcing he was taking the Real Madrid job.

Following Barça’s 5-1 win over Madrid, he was removed from his position, and began his new role at Sevilla in 2019, winning the Europa League in his first season in charge.