The Catalans received a tough draw for the quarter-finals of the cup as they were drawn with Sevilla who they beat 5-0 in the final last season.
Barcelona come into this match in top form with one loss in their last 13 matches which was against Levante in the previous round of the Copa del Rey when an understrength team was fielded in order to rest key players. In the last 10 matches, they have only conceded five goals as the defence has started to regain its solidity.
In contrast, Sevilla come into this match with three consecutive losses and only four wins in the last 10 games. Athletic Bilbao were responsible for two of those as the fixture list saw them play each other three times in a row, however, Los Hispalenses were able to come away victorious 3-2 in the cup on aggregate. Recent poor form has seen them slip 13 points behind Barcelona in the league, though, as their title challenge starts to falter.
Recent history favours Barca as they have won eight of the last ten clashes with the other two matches being draws. This fixture certainly brings entertainment because there have been 34 goals in those 10 matches including a 5-0 victory in last season’s Copa del Rey final as well as a 4-2 win earlier in the season where Barca regrouped well after an early injury to Lionel Messi.
Pablo Machin has stuck with his favoured 3-5-2 system even though it hasn’t brought results in recent matches. He is unlikely to change the set-up specifically for this match as the Catalans could take advantage of any disorganisation. They are likely to press high in order to try and disrupt Barcelona’s play and control the game because they have players such as Ever Banega who are capable of dissecting opposition defences.
Ernesto Valverde is likely to field a strong side because otherwise, Sevilla are probably going to come away with a significant lead. Messi was only used as a substitute against Leganes which suggests that Valverde was planning ahead for this game even though the cup is the least of Barcelona’s priorities this season.
Samuel Umtiti and Rafinha are both still unavailable while Ousmane Dembele sprained his ankle in the last match against Leganes so he is set to be out for two weeks. Aside from that, Valverde has a strong squad to choose from. Maxime Gonalons and Nolito are the only players set to be missing.
This is likely to be a tough match for the Catalans even though Sevilla are in poor form as they posed plenty of problems when they played earlier in the season at Camp Nou. However, this is Barcelona’s competition as they have won it four times in a row so they are certainly capable of getting a result.