Sevilla wants to put an end to Barça’s Sevillian party
BARCELONA, 9 (EUROPA PRESS)
Sevilla FC and FC Barcelona face off this Wednesday in the first leg of the Copa del Rey semifinals, at the Ramón Sánchez-Pizjuán, in the first two-legged tie and in a clash that could well be an early final and between two teams in good time.
Barça plays its second game in a row in Seville, after winning the weekend at Real Betis in LaLiga Santander. But Julen Lopetegui’s Sevilla FC wants to end that Sevillian party of the Blaugranas, who arrive in a box at the event but with the conviction of repeating their triumph in the Seville city.
Not only did they beat Real Betis in the last round of the domestic competition (2-3), they have also come out gracefully from most of their visits to Sevilla, with four games unbeaten in league duels.
And, in their last cup meeting, in the quarterfinals of the 2018/19 season, the Catalans lost in Seville (2-0), true, but they came back with a ‘set’ (6-1) in their fiefdom. In fact, since the 2011 Spanish Super Cup that Barça won, Sevilla players have only won two matches out of thirty played against the Catalans.
There will be casualties on both sides, but the illusion for this Cup, in which by overcoming three duels, even two, you can celebrate a title, will prevail. In the Sevilla players, especially, the absence of Jesús Navas will be noticed, still with hip discomfort.
Lucas Ocampos, injured last weekend in his left ankle after the stomp of Getafe defender Djené, will be the other great absence due to his offensive power, while Acuña and Óscar complete the local medical team.
At Barça, they are worse still and especially in defense. To the already known casualties due to injury to Gerard Piqué, Ronald Araujo, Philippe Coutinho, Sergi Roberto and Ansu Fati, those of Martin Braithwaite, Miralem Pjanic and Sergiño Dest were added at the last minute.
The Danish forward has a muscular elongation in the adductor of the right thigh, the right side, muscular discomfort in the right thigh and the Bosnian midfielder, discomfort in the left foot. Discharges noted that, however, open the way to Ilaix or Konrad, of the subsidiary.
These names will not be there, but there will be others in search of a result that brings their respective teams closer to the grand final, which will be via Camp Nou. A disputed duel is expected, as it was, although it cannot be comparable, that of LaLiga Santander at the home of the Catalans (1-1).
That is the last precedent between the two, but there are many more and each one will try to repeat the one that suits them best. In the previous one, Ronald Koeman assured that they would look for the best result, but thinking about the return, while Julen Lopetegui knows that they will have to play “to the limit” to overcome the Blaugrana obstacle.
A limit that they have regularly found in this start of 2021, with a single defeat – against Atlético de Madrid in LaLiga – in eleven games, also overcoming the cup qualifying rounds well and climbing, in the domestic table, to fourth position and only one point from Real Madrid and Barça.
But this Barça seems that it already knows how to smile and also suffer to seek the final joy. They are subscribed to comebacks, as against Betis or against Granada, in the extra time in the quarterfinals of this Copa del Rey. But there are no more sudden death duels, the twists and turns come and the scene is different. And Seville and Barça seek to go to Barcelona with the pre-reserved ticket.
DATASHEET.
–POSSIBLE ALIGNMENTS.
SEVILLA FC: Bonus; Aleix Vidal, Diego Carlos, Koundé, Rekik; ‘Papu’ Gómez, Gudelj, Rakitic, Fernando; Youssef En-Nesyri and De Jong.
FC BARCELONA: Ter Stegen; Mingueza, Umtiti, Lenglet, Jordi Alba; Busquets, De Jong, Pedri; Dembélé, Messi y Griezmann.
–ARBITRATOR: Mateu Lahoz (C. Valenciano).
–STADIUM: Ramón Sánchez-Pizjuán.
–TIME: 21.00 / Telecinco and DAZN.
