Spanish league leaders, Barcelona, will welcome Sevilla to the Nou Camp today. Barcelona, who have an unbeaten run this season will take on Sevilla, who has not lost a match this season. The tie against Sevilla will be a tricky one as Sevilla are high on confidence at the moment .Sevilla are fourth on the log, two points behind Barcelona and a victory for Sevilla will see them overtake Barcelona on the log table.
Last week, Barcelona defeated Racing Santander 3-0 in the league with Messi grabbing a brace. Barcelona have scored 18 goals at home in the league this season and have not conceded any. Also, last week, Andres Iniesta? returned from a six-week injury lay off and Barca welcome back Cesc Fabregas today, who has been in stunning form since joining the Blaugrana. Coach Guardiola is likely to go for his usual 4-3-3 formation, with Gerald Pique out for two weeks. Mascherano will likely partner Carles Puyol in central defence.
Iniesta, Xavi and Busquet or Thiago are expected in the midfield with the trio of Messi, Villa and Pedro to lead the attack. Messi’s brace last weekend was his 10th goal in the league and 16 in all competitions this season. Even though Barca are on top of the log table.
Andres Iniesta said the club will continue to improve to stay successful. “Every year, it gets harder to be better than the rest. It is important for the team to take this as a challenge, to always want to better ourselves,” Iniesta said. “Doing what we did last year doesn’t mean we can assume we will achieve the same this time. The team must never stop learning and improving.
“Other teams do things differently when they play us. So, the second challenge is to look for different ways of playing in order to counter the things our opponents do,” he further stressed. Sevilla on the other hand, are enjoying a good run of form at the moment.
They have won the league once in their history, and have not been prolific in front of goal this season; scoring just three goals in their last four games. Alvaro Negredo has scored three goals in six appearances for Sevilla this season. Malian striker, Fredric Kanoute, has a decent record against Barca. He has scored seven times against the Catalans.
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Meanwhile, Real Madrid are flying high in the league having won their last three games with Argentine striker, Gonzalo Higuain, in top form; scoring back to back hat-tricks in the league. They take on Malaga today. The game will be a huge test for Malaga who were strengthened in the summer with the signings of Ruud Van Nistelrooy, Jaoquin Sanchez and Santi Carzola in a bid to break Barca- Madrid duopoly of the league.
They started their campaign on a good note, staying undefeated in their first six games before losing 3-0 to Levante last weekend. Santi Carzola has been in inspired form for Malaga, he has been the heart and soul of Malaga, scoring four goals this season. A victory for Malaga will show their intent to win the league this season.
