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| Sevilla vs Barça Spanish Supercopa Match Preview |
It is the first official game of the 2016/2017 season. FC Barcelona travel to Sevilla to take on the Andalusian club in the first leg of their Spanish Super Cup tie on Sunday (tonight) at the Sanchez Pizjuan stadium as they look to take the first step to winning their first title of the new season.
After missing out on the Sextuplet in 2015 no thanks to a 5-1 aggregate loss to Athletic Bilbao in the Spanish Super Cup, FC Barcelona are looking to come into into the game stronger than they did in last year’s fixture. Luis Enrique has made a number of additions to the squad, four in total and they will take the game seriously, knowing there is no room for errors by acknowledging the loss against Bilbao last year.
The big blow for Barça is the unavailability of goalkeeper Marc Andre Ter Stegen. The German shot-stopper will miss both legs against Sevilla after he sustained a knee injury in training, ruling him out for a minimum of 8-10 days as speculated. This means Claudio Bravo will start in goal for the Catalan giants although coach Luis Enrique stated that it’s not a certainty.
Also, new signing Lucas Digne is likely to start at the left back position after first choice left back Jordi Alba failed to take part in any preseason game as he was out with a stomach bug. The Spaniard has resumed full training yesterday but he has been left out of the squad for technical reasons as he lacks match fitness. Barça will need a fresh and fully fit player for every position.
Lionel Messi will be the player to watch and his tipped to find the net against his favourite opponents. The Argentine has netted 25 goals in 26 games against Sevilla and will be looking to add to that number. However, his partner Luis Suarez is yet to register his account against tonight’s opponent. The debate now is who will partner both players in attack with the major candidates being Munir, Arda Turan and Denis Suarez.
SEVILLA VS BARCELONA – SPANISH SUPER CUP
Date: Sunday, August 14, 2016
Time: 10:00pm CET
Venue: Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan, Seville
Referee: Jesus Gil Manzano
Possible FC Barcelona lineup: Claudio Bravo; Sergi Roberto, Gerard Pique, Javier Mascherano, Lucas Digne; Ivan Rakitic, Sergio Busquets, Andres Iniesta; Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez, Arda Turan.
BarcaLens Predicts: Sevilla 1-2 Barcelona – The game will not be an easy one, but I tip Barça to play with full press from the first minute and get a slim win.