Wednesday, 23 January 2019 21:30 BARCELONA TIME Canada – Vancouver (12:30 PM) / Toronto (3:30 PM) US – Los Angeles (12:30 PM) / New York (3:30 PM) Latin America México City (2:15 PM) / Bogotá (3:15 PM) / Santiago de Chile (5:15 PM) / Buenos Aires (5:15 PM) / Brasil – Brasilia (6:15 PM) Thursday, 24 January 2019 India– New Delhi (2:45 AM) Indonesia – Jakarta (03:15 AM) China – Beijing (04:15 AM) Japan – Tokyo (05:15 AM) Australia– Sydney (07:30 AM) Estadio Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán PREVIOUS MEETINGS SLL 20-10-2018 FT Barcelona 4 : 2 Sevilla SSdE 12-08-2018 FT Sevilla 1 : 2 Barcelona SCdR 21-04-2018 FT Sevilla 0 : 5 Barcelona SLL 31-03-2018 FT Sevilla 2 : 2 Barcelona SLL 04-11-2017 FT Barcelona 2 : 1 Sevilla SLL 05-04-2017 FT Barcelona 3 : 0 Sevilla VISCAELBARCA
3 Copa yellow cards = 1 Copa match suspension Entering this match on 2 bookings: Miranda, Murillo On 1 yellow card: Aleña, Busquets, Chumi, Rakitic
Also no suspended Murillo (2 yellows with Barca in Copa, plus 1 with Valencia), no Miranda (who often starts Copa matches to give Alba a rest but was taken off at half time in Levante first leg for Roberto) or Chumi (even with Murillo suspended, Vermaelen's return gives us 3 first team CBs), no injured players: Dembele, Umtiti, and Samper. Yes to Puig and O. Busquets from Barca B. But yeah, no Messi and no Busi is huge news, and a small surprise given that each was recently rested. Prediction: Cillessen Semedo-Pique-Lenglet-Alba Arthur-Rakitic-Vidal Malcom-Suarez-Coutinho That would be a damn strong team given the injuries, suspensions, and not having Messi and Busi in the match squad. But Sevilla is a strong team and we don't want to dig ourselves a big hole in the first leg so it seems to make sense to me. Goalie - set. RB - Semedo seems to get all CdR starts while Roberto gets Liga and CL for now. CBs - could also start Vermaelen or bring him on as a sub, Lenglet just rested, so if Verm started I'd rest Pique. LB - w/o Miranda only starting Vermaelen or Roberto seem like options, both are bad options, Vermaelen did not look great at LB earlier in the year and I think it adds to injury risk playing him as a fullback vs. just CB. DM - Oriol Busquets or Roberto or Vidal are the other options but Rakitic is best, maybe bring on Oriol as a sub. AMs - any of Alena, Puig, or Denis could start or come on as a sub. Wingers - with Messi and Dembele not available only Prince and Denis are alternative options. Striker - Prince may spell Luis but more likely as a substitute.
Messi may well be healthy and is just being rested. I think the team learned from past instances that if he's exhausted/banged up in April, the year ends in disappointment.
Particularly with De Jong seemingly coming, club leaders want Denis to accept a sale, they have offers on the table. However, Denis only wants to join Arsenal and Unai Emery, but Arsenal will only do a loan for financial reasons. So Denis likely will not make any more match squads in January (only 2 more), as they try to get him to accept an offer from a club willing and able to buy now.. They don't want to be Rafinha'd again. And frankly I think that it may not be possible to have an "enforced buy" obligation in a loan contract without running into FFP restraints when you enter the contract. So I'm not sure that is a viable solution to make it work with Arsenal. And if it is not obligatory we run the risk, as with Rafinha, of having the club try to negotiate a lower fee, or just send the player back.
CAS reject final appeal by Levante re Chumi: https://www.sport-english.com/en/ne...olicitada-por-levante-copa-suspendera-7262050
Wow, quite an experimental line-up. Guessing it is a 4-4-2 with Roberto playing left back, and only Prince and Malcom up front, heaven help us. Cillessen Semedo-Pique-Lenglet-Roberto Alena-Rakitic-Vidal-Arthur Malcom-Prince Bench: MAtS, Vermaelen, Alba, Oriol Busquets, Riqui Puig, Luis Suarez, and Coutinho. If we can somehow get a good result with this weird starting lineup then sure, I'd like to see Riqui and Oriol, but I'm more concerned that we are going to need to put on Luis Suarez, Coutinho, and Alba in the 2nd half to chase an away goal late.
interesting lineup. i suppose Alena could play in attack to make it a 4-3-3. love that he's getting a good run in the team. and welcome aboard Prince Boateng! starting Roberto at LB is a plea for the club to sign a LB this window. plug that last hole and the team is set for the rest of the season.
Semedo at LB and Roberto at LB, Alena, as you suggested is doing the "playmaker" role just behind Prince and Malcom - so kind of a false 9 / third forward / trequartista
Isn't life unfair? Barca buy players for large fees and they usually never get to start a game, KPB comes along on loan and starts immediately [emoji23]
Funny how Levante was taken more seriously than Sevilla, it doesn't make sense but Im actually glad that Messi and Suarez and Busi are rested.
Messi is not injured. He is rested. Good God Sevilla fans and players are annoying. I guess they’re still butthurt from the Copa final and the Supercopa...