Barcelona will play Sevilla in Matchday 30 of La Liga at the Sanchez Pizjuan on Friday. Leaders Barca will face their hardest opponents left in the domestic league campaign, as Sevilla are having a great season which has them sitting third in the standings with 51 points.
Despite having recently overcome Leganes 2-0 at the Camp Nou, Barcelona have looked rusty and quite sloppy in possession since La Liga restarted a couple of matches ago.
In our latest The Barcelona Podcast, I argued that, even though this could be a direct result of the three months of lockdown the players had to endure, it is also clear that Barca won’t win in Sevilla unless they step their game up in terms of physicality, dynamism upfront and speed of ball distribution.
Quique Setien has plenty of players at his disposal, which is obviously a positive. A couple of players with slight discomfort, but no major injuries to deal with. In that respect, it looks like the extended time away from football has actually benefited Barca.
With that in mind, and given the paramount importance of the match, Setien should field his strongest XI against Sevilla:
As I explained in our latest The Barcelona Podcast, I believe Braithwaite is a much more incisive attacking threat than Griezmann right now, so he would start in my preferred XI. I do believe that Setien will still trust the French international from the initial whistle, however.
Listen to The Barcelona Podcast for more specific detail, right here:
Luis Suarez has made a couple of late appearances in the last two matches but looked sharp and eager to get involved. I would start Suarez and perhaps substitute him for either Ansu Fati or Griezmann around the 60 minute mark.
I would have started Sergi Roberto over Semedo at right-back but the Catalan is injured (fractured rib). Let’s hope Semedo can use the width of the pitch better than what Sergi Roberto did against Leganes.
Barcelona were far too slow and predictable with Arthur and Rakitic in the midfield in our last La Liga match. However, and with De Jong missing the Sevilla game due to calf strain, one of them would have to play – and my pick would be Arthur.
Alongside the Brazilian, I would definitely trust Vidal to add much-needed dynamism to the team, as well as a more incisive goalscoring threat from our second line of attack.
Even though it will be a tough game, I do expect Barcelona to come away from Sevilla with a further three points in their La Liga tally – even if it ends up being with a tight one-goal victory.
For the Sevilla preview, Dan broke down Julen Lopetegui’s squad.
