Less than a week away from a season-defining match-up with Paris Saint-Germain and with a locker room that looks more like the infirmary than a clubhouse, Ronald Koeman probably isn’t facing off against Sevilla in the first leg of the Copa del Rey semi-final the way he would have liked.
As Gerard Piqué continues his fight back to health, Ansu Fati and Philippe Coutinho remain out for what could be the remainder of the season. Sergi Roberto reinjured himself after being back for just part of the match against Granada, and Ronald Araujo joined the walking injured against Real Betis. Sergiño Dest is day-to-day dealing with a hamstring injury, and Miralem Pjanic and Martin Braithwaite will also be out against Sevilla due to knocks either picked up in training or against Betis.
For those keeping count at home, that’s eight first team players out against the fourth place team in La Liga. Alex Collado, who is in fine form with Barcelona B, has had his name added to the Champions League roster, and due to Sevilla being a midweek fixture, joins Ilaix Moriba and Konrad de la Fuente on the squad list. Koeman has made it clear that the Copa del Rey is Barcelona’s best chance at a trophy this season (duh), so I’m skeptical if Culers will see any of the three against the Andalusians.
Maybe the most comfortable thing about the match-up with Sevilla is the team’s recent form away from home. The road warriors have won their first eight away games (so not the neutral site of the Spanish Super Cup) of a calendar year for the first time in club history. It is also just the second time in the club’s history when they have won their first five away league matches in a calendar year, but that streak will obviously have to wait until they meet Sevilla again at the end of the month to continue.
Trincão has finally scored his first Barcelona goal, and that’s one of the silver linings of the last week that has been devastated by injuries. He did so in his 20th Barcelona appearance as a substitute, but expect him to feature in the starting line-up against Sevilla, as he has in the past few Copa del Rey matches.
Even with a limited squad, Barcelona is currently playing up to their potential. Lionel Messi, Antoine Griezmann, Frenkie de Jong, and Ousmane Dembélé have all been in fine form and significant players in the recent comebacks. When these four are buzzing like they are, Barcelona will always have a chance to be the victors.
The defense on the other hand is a bit more worrying. Oscar Mingueza will need to start at right-back, which leaves the left-footed Frenchmen Samuel Umtiti and Clement Lenglet as the centre-back pairing. With Pjanic out, Koeman has almost no choice but to start Pedri and de Jong alongside Sergio Busquets – Riqui Puig started against Betis and I can’t imagine Koeman would trot out Puig next to Pedri against a team with as many weapons as Sevilla.
Speaking of Sevilla, they continue to be the same very good, sometimes complacent, bordering on a top side team that La Liga fans have come to expect. They reached the Copa del Rey semi-final by sneaking past Almeria 1-0, and are just a point behind Barcelona in La Liga. Julen Lopetegui’s team is coming off a 3-0 demolition of Getafe, but they did lose their second leading scorer Lucas Ocampos to a nasty ankle injury delivered by a tackle from Carles Aleñá.
Fortunately, Youssef En-Nesyri and his 13 goals (tied with Messi in the Pichichi race, three behind Luis Suárez) will still be the focal point of the attack. Luuk de Jong and Munir are his back-ups with their two goals and three goals respectively.
In a recent write-up for The Guardiona, Sid Lowe laid out how historic En-Nesyir’s January was. His two hat-tricks, which came in consecutive games at home, hadn’t been done since Rafael Berrocal in 1943. The January Player of the Month in La Liga has a goal every 91 minutes. While his technical abilities are somewhat lacking, he is such a menace around the box and in the air that it more than makes up for it. Physically, he will not tire of making sprint after sprint after sprint directly at the Barcelona back-line, and the match-up with Lenglet should decide which team takes the first leg.
With Ocampos sidelined, expect 32-year-old Papu Gomez to have a starring role. The Argentine playmaker spent most of the last decade at Atalanta and pulled the strings for a team that became a fixture in the top half of the Serie A table. His desire to play in a regular playmaking spot is what helped lead to his fallout with Atalanta manager Gian Piero Gasperini, so you’d think that he only came to Sevilla because Lopetegui may be willing to meet his positional demands.
On the backline, Diego Carlos hasn’t been as good recently as he was to start the year, and Jules Koundé has looked mortal at times, but he is still in the argument for best La Liga defender this season. Around them are veterans aplenty, as is also the case in midfield. Lopetegui may have double the options that Koeman does, but it does feel like the Dutchman is the one with the aces and a team that is enjoying having their backs against the wall.
Expected line-ups:
Barcelona (4-3-3): ter Stegen; Alba, Lenglet, Umtiti, Mingueza; Busquets, de Jong, Pedri; Trincão, Messi, Griezmann
Granada (4-3-3):Bono; Escudero, Diego Carlos, Koundé, Vidal; Fernando, Jordán, Rakitic; Gomez, En-Nesyri, Suso
Dan Hilton is an American journalist, broadcaster, and current Editor-in-Chief of BarcaBlog. Extensive work as a play-by-play broadcaster, producer behind the scenes, and quite average player in his younger years has given him a well-rounded and informative perspective on the sport. Alongside BarcaBlog founder Francesc, Dan started The Barcelona Podcast in 2017
