Sevilla outclassed Barcelona in the Copa del Rey semifinal first leg with a 2-0 victory. Now, Ronald Koeman’s Blaugrana need a magical night at Camp Nou to overcome the deficit and progress to the final.
If Barcelona fail to progress to the final, they could miss out on silverware in all competitions. They already lost the Supercopa de Espana Final to Athletic Bilbao and are on the verge of going out of the Champions League.
Sevilla will make it difficult for Barcelona to score goals. However, these teams met at the weekend in La Liga with Barcelona claiming a 2-0 win thanks to Ousmane Dembele and Lionel Messi strikes.
It was the third meeting between the clubs this season. Their first La Liga match finished 1-1 while the Copa del Rey semifinal first leg was all Sevilla thanks to goals from Jules Kounde and Ivan Rakitic. Remember, Sevilla are a cup team.
Manager Julen Lopetegui is likely to be without top forward Lucas Ocampos due to injury. On Sunday, just hours after Saturday’s 2-0 loss in Barcelona, Sevilla trained to focus on the cup semifinal. Neither Ocampos nor Marcos Acuna took part in training.
Koeman has options in defence as a fit Ronald Araujo could partner next to Clement Lenglet, Samuel Umtiti or Gerard Pique. Sergi Roberto is the only defender set to miss out through injury.
Midfielder Pedri is ruled out through injury. Miralem Pjanic is likely to miss too thanks to an ankle injury. Koeman should once again start Messi and Dembele in attack.
Barcelona are unbeaten in three straight games in La Liga and go into the second leg of the Copa del Rey in good form. They must get at least two goals to force extra-time.
The problem for the home side is that the away goals rule is in effect for the semifinal. If Sevilla get a goal, then Barcelona will be forced to score twice more. Sevilla showed in the first leg that they are capable of getting goals.
Barcelona are unbeaten in 13 of their last 15 games in all competitions versus Sevilla. The trend should continue as Barcelona get a victory in the second leg of the Copa del Rey semifinal.
However, expect cup tournament masters Sevilla to get at least one goal to get a massive away goals advantage.
While Barcelona should secure a victory, Sevilla will qualify for the final against Either Levante or Athletic Bilbao. Both teams should find the back of the net this time with over 2.5 goals.