Sevilla VS Barcelona Match Prediction
2018-08-12
20:00:00
Sevilla
VS
Barcelona
Our Prediction Tip
Barcelona will win this match.
2018-08-1220:00:00 Barcelona will win this match.
Barcelona have won 27 of their last 40 matches against Sevilla, with their 5-0 win in the Copa del Rey final the most recent meeting between the two. Luis Suarez scored twice in that game in Madrid, with Lionel Messi, Andres Iniesta and Philippe Coutinho also netting. In the league last season, Barcelona won 2-1 at the Nou Camp but the reverse fixture was a 2-2 draw. Sevilla last beat Barcelona in October 2015, since when Barcelona also won their most recent Super Cup matches – winning 3-0 and 2-0 in the two-legged fixture. Here are the results of their last five matches:
Apr 21, 2018: Sevilla 0-5 Barcelona
Mar 31, 2018: Sevilla 2-2 Barcelona
Nov 04, 2017: Barcelona 2-1 Sevilla
Apr 05, 2017: Barcelona 3-0 Sevilla
Nov 06, 2016: Sevilla 1-2 Barcelona
Unbeaten in their last nine matches against Sevilla, Barcelona are big favourites for this one as they look to beat Sevilla in the Super Cup for the third time.
The last cup final between the two, of course, was the Copa del Rey, when Barcelona won 5-0, and that should be an ominous sign for Sevilla.
Furthermore, while closer to match fitness as a result of their Europa League commitments, those same commitments mean Sevilla will have to rotate players from Thursday night’s narrow win against Zalgiris.
Barcelona, on the other hand, have everybody back in training and Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and co raring to go on what would be their first appearances since the World Cup.
In America, Barcelona were below-par but their squad was nowhere near full-strength. At full strength, they proved in last season’s final they are comfortably better than Sevilla are on paper.
Much will depend on how sharp the likes of Messi and Suarez are, but Sevilla only managed one goal against Zalgiris – if they fail to trouble Japser Cillessen, this could be another big Barcelona win – and there have been plenty of those in recent fixtures between the two teams.
Barcelona are odds-on favourites to beat Sevilla in Morocco, with 10Bet and Ladbrokes both offering 8/15 on last season’s double winners.
Barcelona scored five in last season’s Copa del Rey final and over 2.5 goals in this rematch will return 1/2 with Ladbrokes.
While they leaked goals in pre-season too, meanwhile, their starting defence actually performed well in all three friendlies – and will be bolstered by the return of Gerard Pique and, in front of them, Sergio Busquets.
You can bet against both teams to score at 5/4 with Bet365.
Lionel Messi is just 4/6 to score at any time in Tangier, while Luis Suarez – who netted twice in the Copa del Rey final – is 17/20 as both return to the Barcelona starting line-up.
Barcelona may be lacking in match fitness but they have no shortage of star quality. They thrashed Sevilla in the Copa del Rey final last season and they can beat them again in Tangier.
Aleix Vidal is set to start against his former team, while Ibrahim Amadou was fit to face Zalgiris in the Europa League match in mid-week despite picking up a knock in a friendly the previous week. Pablo Machin has admitted there will likely be rotation from the team which beat Zalgiris 1-0, however, with players still not up to full speed after pre-season.
Ever Banega – Scored Sevilla’s goal against Zalgiris last time out, before being withdrawn later on – possibly with one eye on this fixture.
Wissam ben Yedder – Scored 22 goals in 40 matches for Sevilla last season and now has 40 in 84 since signing from Toulouse.
Pablo Sarabia – Will benefit from the squad rotation having only been a substitute against Zalgiris despite scoring three times in the two matches against Ujpest in the previous round.
Sevilla lost to Benfica in a friendly before their Europa League fixtures started, but they have won all four games since – three qualifiers and one friendly. Against Ujpest, they won 4-0 at home and 3-1 away, before a 2-1 win against Extremadura UD in a friendly allowed them to get more players up to match speed. That was followed by Banega scoring the only goal of the game in a 1-0 win against Zalgiris on Thursday night.
Barcelona have everyone back in training but it is unlikely all of their World Cup stars will return – Samuel Umtiti and Ivan Rakitic both played in the World Cup final, for example. With only three non-EU players permitted to play in the Super Cup, Arturo Vidal may have to wait for his debut with Arthur Melo, Malcolm and Philippe Coutinho in line to start. Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez could make their first post-World Cup appearances up front.
Malcom- Scored his first Barcelona goal in pre-season and will now feature alongside Messi and Suarez to stake his claim for a starting role on the right of the front three.
Lionel Messi – May not have featured in pre-season but the Argentine maestro is unlikely to need much time to start making an impact in a Barca shirt again.
Luis Suarez – Another not to have featured in pre-season but, now back in training, he will look to build on his record of 110 goals in 130 Barca appearances so far.
Barcelona’s only three pre-season friendlies were all in the International Champions Cup, where they threw away leads to draw 2-2 with Tottenham – despite being 2-0 up – and lose 4-2 to Roma. Malcolm scored the winning penalty in the game against Spurs and put Barca 2-1 up against Roma. Another defeat followed, however, losing 1-0 in the last minute against Milan in their final game in America.
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