JAKARTA - Barcelona will try to get their third win in a row in La Liga when they travel to Sevilla on Sunday night, February 9. The Blaugrana are currently in third place in the standings with a four-point difference from leaders Real Madrid. Meanwhile, Sevilla is ranked 12th but still has a chance to compete for tickets to European competition next season.
Sevilla appeared quite stable this season with a record of seven wins, seven draws, and eight defeats from 22 La Liga matches. With a total of 28 points, they are still four points behind Rayo Vallecano who is in sixth place the last position to give a ticket to European competition.
Last season, Sevilla ended their competition in 14th place, which is their worst achievement since being relegated in the 1999-2000 season. However, their performance under Garcia Pimienta showed improvement. In La Liga's last four matches, Los Nervionenses were unbeaten with a record of one win and three draws, including a 2-1 win over Girona.
Playing at home is one of Sevilla's strengths this season. Of the 11 matches at the Estadio Ramon, they have collected 18 points. However, they had to face a tough challenge against Barcelona who had the best away record in La Liga with 24 points from 12 matches.
Barcelona are in good form after a convincing 5-0 win over Valencia in the Copa del Rey quarter-finals. In that match, Ferran Torres performed outstanding by scoring a hat-trick.
In the La Liga event, the Blaugrana also showed an increase with two consecutive wins against Valencia and Alaves. With 45 points from 22 matches, they are only three points adrift of Atletico Madrid who are in second place and four points from Real Madrid at the top of the standings.
The advantages for Barcelona in this match are that their two main competitors, Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid, will face each other the day before. This means that if Barcelona can win over Sevilla, they have the opportunity to cut the gap with one of the two teams.
However, Barcelona's away performance recently disappointed a little. Three of their last four games off home ended in a draw. In addition, they also suffered a surprising defeat to Las Palmas and Leganes this season.
However, their record meeting with Sevilla was impressive. Barcelona have won their last six meetings in La Liga against Los Nervionenses and have never lost to them in the league since October 2015.
The coach Garcia Pimienta had to lose Jose Angel Carmona who was suspended after receiving his fifth yellow card in a goalless draw against Getafe. In addition, Joan Jordan and Tanguy Nianzou are also still absent due to injury.
However, Sevilla still has a squad solid enough to face Barcelona. Juanlu Sanchez is likely to fill the position left by Carmona, while in attack, Dodi Lukebagio's trio, Lucas Romero, and Julian Vargas are predicted to remain the first choice. Lukebagio is the main threat to Barcelona's defense with a score of nine goals in La Liga this season.
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In the Blaugrana camp, Andreas Christensen, Marc Bernal, and main goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen still have not been able to play due to injury. However, Gavi is expected to return after missing the match against Valencia due to a head injury.
Hansi Flick is likely to make some rotations in his line-up. Marc Casado, Robert Lewandowski, Ronald Araujo, and Gavi are expected to enter the starting XI.
Despite scoring a hat-trick against Valencia, Ferran Torres is likely to return to the bench. Barcelona's front line trio is likely to be filled by Lamine Yamal, Robert Lewandowski, and Raphinha.
Two new players recovered from injury, Dani Olmo and Inigo Martinez, likely to be played as substitutes.
Barcelona are in better momentum and have an impressive record against Sevilla. However, Sevilla are quite solid at home and are unbeaten in their last four matches in La Liga.
With Barcelona's defense still having several gaps and Sevilla having dangerous attacks through Lukebagio, it is likely that this match will go tight.
Sevilla (4-3-3):N Berhitung; Sanchez, Bade, Gudelj, Pedrosa; Saul, Lokonga, Sow; Lukebabio, Romero, Vargas
Barcelona (4-2-3-1):Szczesny; Kounde, Araujo, Cubarsi, Balde; Casado, Pedri; Yamal, Gavi, Raphinha; Lewandowski
Final score prediction: Sevilla 1-2 Barcelona.
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