Will Barcelona Bounce Back in Seville?

imagestockdesign / Shutterstock.com

Having taken the lead at the Etihad Stadium against Manchester City in the Champions League, everyone expected to see Barcelona win the game.  It was a great goal, scored on the counter-attack by Lionel Messi and with an excellent record against Manchester City, Barcelona fans must have relaxed, looking forward to another win.

However, as soon as Manchester City got back in the game, there was only one team who looked capable of winning the match.  Barcelona looked unorganised and Manchester City started to create chances and could have scored more.  Without Gerard Pique, Andres Iniesta and Jordi Alba, Barcelona struggled and they are set to be without the same trio of players for the trip to Sevilla this weekend in La Liga.

However, this match is not all about Barcelona and their ambitions this season, Sevilla have targets of their own and at the moment, those involve being in the league title race. With Atletico Madrid losing their match this weekend, Sevilla can climb above both Diego Simeone’s team and Barcelona, into second place in the table.  Under Jorge Sampaoli this season, Sevilla have lost just one match in La Liga and the Champions League, which is a great record.  Furthermore, Sevilla have won all seven home games in both competitions and the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan looks set to become a fortress again this season.

A fortress which Barcelona could do without visiting this weekend.  Luis Enrique’s team have failed to beat Sevilla in their last two La Liga visits to Andalucia and did not perform close to the level he expects of his team against Manchester City in mid-week and Granada last weekend.  The match in England proved that even with Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and Neymar in attack, Barcelona can be weak in other areas of the team and the trio of talented forwards cannot cover for those weaknesses.  Passing out from the back works well and looks great when you are in control and have the lead but when you have just conceded and the oppositions tails are up, it can look poor and one misplaced pass, which happened at Manchester City, can easily lead to a goal.

Sampaoli will have seen the match at the Etihad in mid-week and seen how Barcelona became more and more disjointed as the match went on.  Manchester City’s pressure didn’t pay off immediately but into the second half, it started to work and Barcelona became their own worst enemy by continuing to pass the ball out from the back.  As a man who likes to play a high tempo, pressing based attacking game, the way Barcelona fell apart in the second half, will give Sampaoli hope his team can do the same.

Sevilla can make a real statement of intent by winning this match and place themselves in the heart of the title race.