Match Preview: Tuesday 15/01/2008 22:00 hours, Copa Del Rey, Round 1/16 ( 2nd Leg )

FC BARCELONA - SEVILLA CF
Stadium: Camp Nou, Barcelona

Capacity : 98,772
Referee:


Full Squad :


FC Barcelona (4-4-2): Being Awaited

Manager: Frank Rijkaard


Sevilla(4-3-3): Vargas, De Sanctis, Lolo, Drago, Daniel, Mosquera, Adriano, Duda, Renato, Martí, Poulsen, Capel, Jesús Navas, Chevantón, Kerzhakov, Alfaro, Luis Fabiano.
Manager: Manolo Jiménez


Match Preview:


Barca will have a fuller house tonight against Sevilla, as Deco Anderson, Gabriel Milito and Éric Abidal are all set to return to the squad after missing out of the 4-0 demolition of Real Murcia. Coach Frank Rijkard has kept his formation close to his heart, and may choose to start with the squad that beat Murcia, or the one that beat Mallorca earlier on. However, Rijkaard will be missing Samuel Eto'o from the starting line-up, as the Cameroonian leaves to join his teammates for the African Nations Cup In Ghana. Barca colleague Toure Yaya has already left for same championship with Cote 'd Ivoire as his national team. Ronaldinho will still be missing from the line-up as the Brazilian is yet to be certified fully fit. An in-form Thierry Henry is set to continue his brilliant run since his return from injury, and Bojan Krkic is waiting in the wings to break the resistance of the Sevilla crew while Gudjohnsen is hoping to bully the visitors to submission by forcing his way into goal.


The big news working aganist Sevilla is that Luis Fabiano is down with a cold and may not turn up for the match. If he does turn up, he may likely not play. If he does play, he will be a shadow of himself under the sick conditions he's currently battling under. This added to the absence of Kanoute and other Africans in the squad is not made any better by the suspension of Julian Escudé who was sent off at the weekend. Enzo Maresca, Federico Fazio and Tom de Mul are all out of the encounter tonight, leaving a struggling talent, Daniel Alves to strengthen the team. Alves is struggling to recover from a slight injury he received recently.


Things don't look good for coach Jimenez and nothing short of abnormal super luck will prevent the boys from Seville conceding less than three goals after today's Copa Del Rey show in Camp Nou. They must be thanking their stars Eto'o is absent.


My Prediction:


With an advantage from the 1-1 secured in Seville, Barca look the more favoured side to advance to the next stage of the King's Cup by knocking out the defending champions, Sevilla CF. This looks almost certain with a rampaging Thierry Henry and a difficult to handle Bojan Krkic rearing to run riot on the Sevilla back four after being unleashed by the creativity of Iniesta. There is no escape for Sevilla tonight. The scoreline at the end of the day shouldn't be to different from:


FC Barcelona - Sevilla CF 3 - 0