The Lowdown on Sevilla FC
Barça and Sevilla meet on Friday night at 9pm CEST, with Barça back at the Estadi Olímpic after drawing 2-2 away to Mallorca. Here's the lowdown on a team that won yet another Europa League title last season.
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 seven UEFA Cups/Europa Leagues (2006, 2007, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2020 and yet again last season) has been their most successful period ever.
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 37 meetings across all competitions.
In La Liga, Barça have now gone for 15 games without losing to Sevilla either at home or away, although three of the last seven meetings have ended in draws. Last season, Barça won 3-0 at the Sánchez Pizjuán, and then repeated the scoreline when the teams met at Spotify Camp Nou.
Last ten meetings:
05/02/23 (LIGA) Barça 3 (Alba, Gavi, Raphinha) Sevilla 0
03/09/22 (LIGA) Sevilla 0 Barça 3 (Raphinha, Lewandowski, E Garcia)
03/04/22 (LIGA) Barça 1 (Pedri) Sevilla 0
21/12/21 (LIGA) Sevilla 1 Barça 1 (Araujo)
03/03/21 (C DEL REY) Barça 3 (Dembélé, Piqué, Braithwaite) Sevilla 0
27/02/21 (LIGA) Sevilla 0 Barça 2 (Dembélé, Messi)
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
FORM GUIDE
Sevilla could not have had a worse start to the league season, losing their first three games. They ended that poor run by beating Las Palmas 3-0 and then drew 0-0 at Osasuna before things appeared to finally click into gear when they trounced Almería 5-1 on Tuesday.
Their Champions League campaign hardly got off to a flying start either when they were held 1-1 at home by Lens. Next up for them is a trip to PSV Eindhoven, while the other team in their group is Arsenal.
THE PLAYERS
Most capped internationals:
Sergio Ramos (Spain, 180), Ivan Rakitić (Croatia, 106), JØrjan Nyland (Norway, 48), Jesús Navas (Spain, 48), Nemanja Gudelj (Serbia, 56), Youssef En-Nesyri (Morocco, 62), Marcos Acuña (Argentina, 53), Djibril Sow (Switzerland, 38), Erik Lamela (Argentina, 25), Marko Dmitrović (Serbia, 19), Adnan Januzaj (Belgium, 15), Lucas Ocampos (Argentina, 11)
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.
THE BOSS
José Luis Mendilibar replaced the sacked Jorge Sampaoli last season and immediately led the team to Europa League glory, beating Manchester United and Juventus to reach the final, where they beat Roma on penalties.
Mendilibar was a product of the Athletic Club youth system who never played Liga football, but went on to excel as a coach, with most of his work being done in northern Spain. A very well-known face on the Spanish football scene, he's previously managed Athletic, Osasuna, Levante, Eibar and Alavés.