Brarcelona v Sevilla Preview

The reformation is in full swing for Sevillistas as our new coach and leader, Gregorio Manzano has continually pushed the envelope for better performances week after week. Despite one embarrassing result in Gijón, us Sevillistas can be quite confident with our new manager. Since Manzano’s takeover at the helm, we have got our Europe League campaign back on track with wins in both Germany and Ukraine against Borussia Dortmund and Karpaty Lviv. Not to mention our convincing defeat of Atlético Madrid in the league and our recent pummeling of Real Union which shows that we have full intent for the defense of our Copa del Rey.

No doubt we are a team on the up and will continue heading there now that the players have a coach which they have full confidence and respect in. Having said that however, this weekend will provide the greatest test for Manzano since he has taken over. Barca have started their campaign a bit unconvincingly like ourselves but anyone who knows anything about football, knows this means nothing. Barca is pure class and anything but a picture perfect performance from us will even still, far from guarantee us three points in their hostile home of the Camp Nou.

Supporting Sevilla is fatal to the heart. We’re so unpredictable its crazy. Even during some of our worst times last season under Antonio Álvarez, we managed to go to the Camp Nou and pull off a magical 2-1 victory in the Copa del Rey – a victory which eventually sent us to the final in which we also came out victorious.

Unfortunately for us, we will be without our prolific prodigal son, otherwise known as Jesús Navas, as he is still recovering from his ankle injury that has kept him sidelined for the past month or so. Needless to say that when you play teams like Barcelona, you need your best starting XI, bar none! This won’t be the case as Navas will not travel with the squad, but Manzano hasn’t even had a chance to see Jesús play for his team, so I’m sure he has spent the last 4 weeks coping without him and will play a formation so we are not exposed up the right flank. Another massive blow will be in goal as Andrés Palop is sidelined with an injury he picked up last week against Karpaty. His experience and leadership will be missed but I have full confidence in Javi Varas who has struggled to see game time, not because he’s not a quality keeper, but because he has a legend in front of the pecking order. This will be a personal test for him to show the management why maybe it is time for him to take over the reins in goal.

A boost for us comes as it finally appears that Fabiano and Negredo, our two feared front men, have hit or are about to hit their top form. Both are coming off 2 goal performances in the League and Copa which will no doubt give them full confidence when we travel to Cataluña tomorrow. They will definitely be key in order to get a result away from home.

Our squad for the fixture is as follows:
Martin Cáceres, Romaric, Zokora, Perotti, Luis Fabiano, Renato, Kanoute, Javi Varas, Escudé, Alfaro, Diego Capel, Negredo, Cigarini, Dabo, Alexis, Konko, José Carlos, Luna y Dani Jimenez

A win in Barcelona would definitely show the progress we have made in the span of a month with new boss Manzano, but obviously at this point we have a massive hill to climb.

Vamos Campeón.

Category: Copa Del Rey, Europa League, Match Preview, Team News