Daily Times

Barcelona will host table toppers Sevilla on Saturday in round-9 of the Spanish league as all eyes will be on captain Lionel Messi.

The Barcelona captain enjoyed some time-off during the international break as he did not take part in Argentina’s international friendlies. Messi has distanced himself from the national team for some time and his only focus right now is Barcelona.

Therefore, all eyes will be on the Barcelona superstar as the club looks to pull itself out of the recent turmoil. The Blaugranes have not won any of their past 4 league games, accumulating 3 draws and a loss. This means that the defending champions are now second in the table with Sevilla first with a point ahead.

Barcelona announced the squad to face Sevilla earlier on Friday, which will be led by Messi. However, fans were not happy with exclusion of new-signing Malcom.

Social media reacts to Malcom being left out of the squad

Table toppers Sevilla are not an easy test for Barcelona. Coming off a 3-0 battering of European champions Real Madrid, Sevilla’s confidence is sky-high, but having a striker with 7 goals already in Andre Silva will make things tough for Barcelona.

Although they won’t have home advantage, but Barcelona’s Camp Nou form has been far from impressive. However, when and if Messi fires, all of the other ifs and buts become unnecessary.

The good news for Barcelona is that Messi has scored most of his goals against Sevilla; a whooping 31 strikes in 32 games, and we will have to wait till today to know if he improves his record or not.

The game starts today at 11:45 Pakistan Standard Time (PST).

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