Following Tuesday’s 2-2 draw with Mallorca, Barcelona gets a quick opportunity to return to winning ways as the Blaugrana host Sevilla on Friday.
Xavi has pleaded for better defensive displays from his troops after Barcelona conceded twice in each of the last two games. Will he get a reaction from the team? Bookmaker 10bet offers odds at 2.25 for Barca to keep a clean sheet on Friday. The odds are at 8.00 for Sevilla to lock up its defense and keep the hosts at bay.
※ Current Odds Date & Time: September 28th, 7:00 P.M. (EST)
Before Tuesday’s outing, Barcelona had managed to navigate through its defensive fragilities and keep winning, even beating Villarreal despite conceding three goals, but the lackluster play finally caught up with the team versus Mallorca. Xavi’s side built its success on clean sheets a season ago and will need to regain the form at the back to continue dominating at the top of the league.
At the other end of the pitch, things have worked impressively for the team. After opening the season with a 0-0 draw against Getafe, Barcelona has scored at least twice in every outing. The side already boasts 10 different scorers in the league, although Robert Lewandowski still tends to do the most damage up front.
Lewandowski opened the campaign by failing to score in each of the first two league games for the first time since 2012-13, but he quickly caught fire after that and heads out on Friday with five goals and three assists to his name. Xavi used him for only a little more than half an hour on Tuesday, meaning the Polish veteran should be fully fresh and raring to go as well.
Two of La Liga’s most prolific forwards meet here, with Lewandowski outscoring only Sevilla’s Youssef En-Nesyri in 2023. The Morrocan forward hit his 19th goal for the calendar year in Tuesday’s 5-1 thrashing of Almeria, while Lewandowski boasts 21 tallies across all competitions.
Sevilla kicked off the season in miserable form, losing the first three La Liga fixtures for the first time in club history, but the Andalusians have started to recover from the poor start and should have regained some confidence after registering seven points in the last three rounds. Can Jose Luis Mendilibar now turn the good run of form into a rare victory over Barcelona? Sevilla last beat the Catalan giant in league action eight years ago, and it’s the team’s lone success in the match-up across the last 32 league meetings.
