For the first time in over a season and half Barcelona enter a league match not in first place. Thanks to their loss last week at home against Valencia, the Blaugrana are looking up at both Atlético Madrid and Real Madrid. They will now attempt to get back in the win column against Sevilla.
Sevilla vs. Barcelona: Preview and TV schedule
Barcelona lost their grip of first place last week and now must deal with a tough road trip to face Sevilla.
Manuel Queimadelos Alonso
More from our team sites
Gerardo Martino will have some adjustments to make at the back with Jordi Alba and Javier Mascherano both suspended. Gerard Piqué will be joined in the central defense by either Marc Bartra or Carles Puyol while Adrian is likely to take over for Jordi Alba. Neymar remains out as he recovers from an ankle injury, though the Brazilian has returned to training.
Sevilla currently sit seventh in the table but have begun to drift back just a bit after two straight league losses to teams below them in the table. Head coach Unai Emery will be hoping his team responds to the challenge of playing Barca and are able to take advantage of their oft-leaky defense in the process.
Sevilla injuries and suspensions
Out: Coke (suspended), Stephane Mbia (knee)
Barcelona injuries and suspensions
Out: Neymar (ankle), Jordi Alba (suspended), Javier Mascherano (suspended).
Two regular starters in Barca's back line will be out this week as they served card related suspensions. Sevilla's fullback Coke is also suspended for card accumulation while Stephane Mbia is still a couple weeks from a return.
Projected lineups
Sevilla: Beto, Diogo Figueiras, Nico Pareja, Fernando Navarro, Alberto Moreno, Vicente Iborra, Federico Fazio, José Antonio Reyes, Ivan Rakitić, Vitolo, Carlos Bacca
Barcelona: Victor Valdés, Dani Alves, Gerard Piqué, Marc Bartra, Adriano, Sergio Busquets, Andrés Iniesta, Cesc Fàbregas, Alexis Sánchez, Pedro, Lionel Messi
Match Date/Time: 9 p.m. local, 3 p.m. ET
Venue: Estadio Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán, Sevilla, Spain
TV: beIN Sports USA, beIN Sports en Español (U.S.), Sky Sports 1 (U.K.)
Online: beIN Sports Play (U.S.), beIN Sports Play (Canada)
See More:
