Barcelona wrap up this weekend’s action in the Spanish top flight when they play host to Sevilla at the Nou Camp on Sunday evening in what is one of the most attractive fixtures in Gameweek 5 of La Liga.
Barcelona have actually only played two matches to date in this season’s new La Liga campaign but nevertheless, Ronald Koeman’s side have collected the maximum six points from these opening two matches, courtesy of heavy wins inflicted against Villarreal 4-0 at home which was followed by a 3-0 win on the road at Celta Vigo on Thursday night.
The hosts have suffered just one defeat from their last 14 matches overall in La Liga but such was Real Madrid’s dominance in last season’s domestic top flight, that even that loss at home to Osasuna was punished severely and contributed to Madrid’s La Liga title.
A 5-0 thrashing of Deportivo Alaves on the final day of last term wasn’t enough to turn the tide but it shows that Barcelona are more than capable of dismantling other teams almost at will, with the hosts scoring a total of 12 goals from their last three league matches.
Sunday’s visitors, Sevilla, currently occupy 6th place on the La Liga ladder and are level points with Barcelona as they too have played two and won two to date in this new Spanish top flight season.
Back-to-back wins against Cadiz (3-1 away) and the recent midweek win over Levante (1-0 at home) have given Sevilla maximum points from their first two matches of this new campaign.
Having now put together an unbeaten run of 17 matches overall in La Liga, the visitors will also fancy their chances of taking something out of this upcoming encounter at the Nou Camp.
Seven wins out of their last eight matches demands that Sevilla be taken seriously here, so too their unbeaten run of eight matches on their travels as well, as Lopetegui’s side have made themselves an extremely hard team to beat and almost in the Atletico Madrid ilk.
However, in order to be considered serious challengers for the La Liga title, Sevilla will need to get the better of Barcelona as they’ve failed to beat their hosts in their last four meetings, with Barca winning three of these, while Barcelona have won the previous 12 meetings on the trot against them at the Nou Camp and number 13 could be on it’s way this Sunday.