Sevilla vs Barcelona

Estadio Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán plays host to a blockbuster encounter as Sevilla and Barcelona go head-to-head in a mouth-watering La Liga fixture.

Lucas Ocampos’ 88th-minute winner propelled Sevilla to an all-important 2-1 home victory over reigning La Liga champions Atletico Madrid last time out, making it three league wins on the trot. Another big-name scalp is here for the taking, as ‘Los Rojiblancos’ will be looking to halt an eight-game winless La Liga streak against Barcelona (D3, L5), last winning a top-flight H2H in October 2015. Julen Lopetegui’s men have been nothing short of outstanding at home this season, winning seven of their eight La Liga fixtures here (D1) while netting 2+ goals on all but one of those occasions. That said, the Andalusian heavyweights have won none of their previous five top-flight H2Hs at Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán (D2, L3), failing to find the back of the net in the last two in a row.

In the meantime, Barcelona came out on top of a five-goal thriller at the weekend, eking out a 3-2 home victory over bottom-half Elche to snap a three-game winless streak in all competitions (D1, L2). However, things are not looking bright for new boss Xavi Hernandez, as his men are languishing in eighth in the La Liga standings, trailing pacesetters Real Madrid by a staggering 16 points. Except for a late 3-1 away triumph at Villarreal in late November, the Catalans have failed to win any of their remaining six away league fixtures this season (D2, L4), drawing a blank three times across that period. Yet, Barcelona can fall back on their impressive La Liga record at Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán this millennium (W11, D6, L3), with no other side inflicting more top-flight defeats on Sevilla in their own backyard than Barca in the 21st century.