Next Saturday, 22nd of November 2014, a Barcelona with their pride hurt will measure forces with a well organized Sevilla at the magnificent Camp Nou for round 12 of Liga BBVA, on a match that is a good opportunity for the Blaugranas to return to wins at home after their unexpected defeat at the hands of the mighty Celta de Vigo two weeks ago.

After Barça’s defeat against the Galician team on round 10 of La Liga, pundits immediately started to question Luis Enrique’s talent and his skills to master a team full of insurmountable egos such as Barcelona. Nevertheless, and no matter what people might say about the Asturian-born manager, the truth is that he is a tough guy and for Barça’s following match against Almeria, he produced a silent revolution on the starting line-up, benching some big names such as Luis Suárez, Neymar, Pique and Dani Alves, giving the team a clear sign that he will not allow any more slip-ups like the one that happened against Celta.

Luis Enrique’s Barcelona is probably not as strong as the one of Pep Guardiola a few years ago, but in truth there isn’t any team in the World that can extend such a glorious moment for such a long time. The Asturian manager is still trying to pass his own ideas to the team and such task takes time, especially in a team such as Barcelona.

The match against Sevilla next weekend is of major importance for the Blaugranas, who cannot allow any more bumps along the road in order not to let the unstoppable Real Madrid escape at the top of the table.

For the upcoming match, Luis Enrique is not yet certain if he will be able to rely on the contribution of Mathieu, Iniesta, Roberto and Vermaelen, all of them still recovering from recent injuries.

As for Sevilla, their excellent campaign at La Liga took a major blow two weeks ago when they were defeated at Cathedral San Mamés and failed to switch places with Barça at the top of the table. That sour defeat against Athletic shook Sevilla’s strong foundations and they had another slip-up during the previous round of La Liga by conceding a 1-1 home draw against a modest Levante side.

The last time both sides went head-to-head at Camp Nou, the home side granted a narrow 3-2 win and next weekend’s clash will certainly be very close as well. Despite their somewhat bumpy moment, Barcelona are firm favourites for the upcoming clash.

Barcelona

Stats: W-3 L-2 D-0

Recent Form - WWLWL

Sevilla

Stats: W-3 L-1 D-1

Recent Form - DWLWW

Possible Line-ups

Barcelona (4-3-3) - Bravo - Dani Alves - Mascherano - Piqué - Jordi Alba - Busquets - Xavi - Rakitic - Neymar - Suárez - Messi

Sevilla (4-4-1-1) - Beto  - Coke - Pareja - Carriço - Tremoulinas - Krychowiak - Denis Suárez - Mbia - Deulofeu - Banega- Bacca

Prediction

Barcelona 2 Sevilla 1