Sevilla in Barcelona's way – Barcelona vs Sevilla Match Preview
One of the most successful clubs in club football, Barcelona are going to be looking for a win against Seville, right before the start of the season. A record ninth Super Cup title is at stake as Barcelona are going to face Seville at Camp Nou tonight; the second leg is going to start as the two Spanish clubs are going to take their positions on the field.
The Barcelona coach, Pep Guardiola is finally going to call his entire team before the start of the season as that is the only way he can fight back a 3-1 defeat that he suffered in the first leg when his team visited Seville's home. Seville, on the other hand are in the middle of a critical Champions League qualifying tie, with their hopes lying on the game that is going to take place next Tuesday when they are going to face Braga who won the first match 1-0.
Both, Barcelona and Seville are going to try to get their hands on the first title of the season as they both are going to face each other in an intense match at Camp Nou. This match is going to mean a lot for the two teams as it will help them apply pressure on the other side when they are going to step down into the Spanish La Liga, which Barcelona won last season and stole it away from the "high spending" Spanish side, Real Madrid.
History of the two teams:
Last season, Barcelona lost the match 1-2 at the Nou Camp because of which they could not qualify for the Spanish Cup even though they won the match 0-1 when they were away for the second leg. Last season it was for the first time that Barcelona suffered a loss from a Spanish side at their home, the Nou Camp.
The two teams came face to face in 2006 during the European Super Cup; they came face to face because Seville had won the UEFA Cup and Barcelona had won the Champions League Trophy in Paris. It was Seville who came out with flying colours that night as they won the match 3-0 with Renato, Kanoute and Maresca scoring the three goals for their team.
During the league, Barcelona defeated Seville 4-0 in the last two seasons which is actually a pretty good fact for Barcelona tonight. The Barcelona's little magician, Lionel Messi has scored most of his goals against the Andalucian jerseys and it is actually good news for the Catalan giants because Messi is going to feature in the match today while the fans would be waiting for him to score more goals for his side.
Team News:
The Barcelona coach, Pep Guardiola has decided not to announce his team before kickoff but the news about the inclusion of two Barca B youngsters, Thiago and Jonathan is true. During Saturday morning's training session, Guardiola called the two youngsters to train with Barcelona's first team out of which 8 were a part of the Spanish squad that took part in the FIFA World Cup 2010, and won the tournament.
Guardiola also indicated that the players who helped the Spanish squad win the FIFA World Cup 2010 are also going to feature in this match; however, they might not feature for the whole match. The reserve goalkeeper Pinto, who was injured in the previous leg, has recovered from the injury and would probably be in action tonight as Mino, who featured as a goalkeeper in the previous leg, is going to be back into the reserves. During the last game, Seville rested some of their big names in the first half but Pep Guardiola expects a strong side this time, despite their important Champions League fixture that is going to take place this Tuesday.
Ones to watch:
It is obvious that Barcelona's World Cup winning players are going to feature for the first time after their amazing triumph in South Africa and the home crowd is definitely going to give the Spanish heroes a warm welcome. All the 8 players are simply amazing when they combine together but when it comes down to individual skill there is only one man that the opposition needs to keep an eye on and that is definitely the little Argentinean star, the person who can do wonders with the ball when it is at his feet.
He is none other than, Lionel Messi. No one can forget his amazing 52 goals run during the last season, and he has already started scoring during the pre seasons as well. Messi is definitely someone to look out for. Besides Lionel Messi, the new Barcelona signing, David Villa is going to try and make an impact while the Sevilla player Adriano is also going to feature for the first time at the Nou Camp.
It is going to be an exciting match when the striking force of Lionel Messi, David Villa, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Bojan Krkic is going to combine with the midfield strength of Xavi Hernandez and Andres Iniesta. Also, with Yaya Toure out of the squad, Adriano or Sergio Busquets are going to feature as defensive midfielders; how is that going to turn out? We can all just wait for the match.
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