After last week’s 3-0 road destruction of Malaga, people are starting to think that Gregorio Manzano might have finally gotten the immense talent at Sevilla to work together. They have a long way to go to get back up into the top four to qualify for UEFA Champions League, but last week’s result was a good start. They’re only in 10th place, but being four points behind a European place and eight points behind fourth isn’t awful, considering how poor they have been for much of the season. All of their main rivals for third and fourth spot have shown dents in their armor, save for Villarreal.
Spanish La Liga Saturday, Round 17: Barcelona And Sevilla In Action
This week, they have a chance to move further up the table in a match with Real Sociedad, where they should be favorites. Since their big win over Athletic Bilbao, they have dropped their last three in a row, including a heartbreaker against Valencia and a poor performance against Real Zaragoza. They’re much tougher at home than on the road, but they might have trouble dealing with a confident Sevilla team.
Barcelona play in the night cap, traveling away to Deportivo La Coruña. Depor have struggled for big chunks of this season, partially due to the injury troubles of Andres Guardado, and looked like a solid candidate for the drop. They've turned it on in their last two games, though, defeating Athletic Bilbao away in the last round of La Liga and defeating Cordoba mid-week in Copa Del Rey.
Their hosts will get Gerard Pique and Lionel Messi back from their extended holidays, but will be without captain Carles Puyol for the next month. Barcelona didn't look their best last week against Levante without Pique, Puyol, and Messi, but they will be very heavy favorites against Depor with two of those players returning.
Sevilla vs. Real Sociedad kicks off at 2 pm ET and Barcelona vs. Deportivo La Coruña kicks off at 4 pm. Both of those games will be covered here and can be seen on Gol TV in the United States.
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