Are Sevilla Barcelona’s Surprise Main Rivals?
Barcelona made it back to back wins on Saturday afternoon to the delight of those who backed them with a Bet Victor bet promo code after over-coming a stubborn Valencia side 2-3 at the Mestalla.
The win lifts the Blaugrana up to third in the table just two points behind leaders Real Madrid. But it is the team who sit in second place who are raising quite a few eyebrows at this stage of the season, Sevilla.
Only one defeat so far this campaign (against Athletic Bilbao) leaves Sevilla suddenly sitting pretty in second place one point ahead of Barcelona.
Atletico Madrid and Leicester City are recent testament to the fact that anything can happen in football, so will Barcelona need to look at the Andalusian club as one of their main rivals?
Sevilla have a rich pedigree in La Liga, although have remarkably only once won the title in their 111-year history. However, they did win the Copa Del Rey as recently as 2009/10.
Former Chile head coach Jorge Sampaoli is the man at the helm of Sevilla and is charged with the ominous task of taking Sevilla back to Europe’s Elite competition.
So far he is doing a good job. Three wins in a row make Sevilla the form side in the league as they travel to Sporting Gijon at the weekend in a match they will expect to win.
After that, Barcelona travel to the Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán which could well prove to be Barce’s toughest test to date in a mouth-watering encounter on Sunday 6th November.
However, Barcelona will still fancy themselves as they hold a far superior goal difference. Sevilla have found the back of the net 17 times this season, that is an average of 1.88 goals per game whereas Barcelona are the top scorers in the league with 29 goals at an average of 3.2 per game.
Where the two are more evenly matched is in defence. Both sides have conceded 12 heading into this weekend’s fixtures (three more than leaders Real Madrid) and is a surprising area of weakness for Barcelona.
With home advantage Sevilla will hope to exploit Barce’s relatively weak defence however they will have to stop a rampant MSN to do so.
Barcelona enjoy scoring away from the Camp Nou. 17 of their 29 goals this season have come on the road meaning this titanic tussle promises to be a high scoring affair.
Come the end of the season this match could prove pivotal in the race for the Primera Division as Sevilla are emerging as shock contenders.
Forget Real Madrid it is Sevilla Luis Enrique may need to keep a sharp eye on.