Barça are without Marc-André ter Stegen through injury while Neymar Jr and Rafinha are representing Brazil in the Olympic Games. Douglas, Samper and Jordi Alba have been left out of the 18-man squad for technical reasons.
Sevilla keeper David Soria is unfit, and will be replaced by reserve stopper José Antonio Caro. And that’s not the only concern for the Andalusians, especially in defence where Carriço, Kolo and Nico Pareja are all unavailable. But it looks like defensive midfielder Iborra will be able to play.
Coaches’ viewpoint
Speaking at his Saturday morning press conference, Luis Enrique said that “Sevilla look different this year. They’ve made a lot of changes. I like Sampaoli’s philosophy. It’s attractive for the fans. Sevilla is a well-structured team that has set standards in Europe and in our league.”
His counterpart Jorge Sampaoli adds that “the best way to defend against a team that likes to play the ball so much is to try and get the ball off them. If we can match them for possession, we’ll be able to hurt them.” He also commented on how much he is looking forward to a reunion with his compatriot Claudio Bravo, who captained the Chile side that he coached to the 2015 Copa America title.
Form guide
Barça have won three of their four preseason fixtures, against Celtic, Leicester and Sampdoria, but lost 4-0 to Liverpool at Wembley. Luis Enrique was quizzed on Saturday about the high number of goals, nine, that his team has leaked in these games. But it’s not a matter he is too concerned about, saying that unusually high scores are quite normal in warm-up matches like those.
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