Barcelona eager to beat Sevilla (Preview)

Title holders FC Barcelona's visit to Sevilla on Sunday will be one of the most fascinating and entertaining games of the La Liga football season so far.

Barcelona may have moved into second place in the points table with a narrow win over Granada in their last la Liga match, but they suffered an important 1-3 defeat to Manchester City in the Champions League on Tuesday, reports Xinhua.

The game again exposed key midfielder Sergio Busquets' poor current form and highlighted just how important the injured defender Gerard Pique is to the side.

Pique is still out for the trip to the Sanchez Pizjuan Stadium, where Sevilla have won all seven games this season, as are regulars Jordi Alba, Jeremy Mathieu and Andres Iniesta.

Unless Barcelona are back to their best, Luis Enrique's side could go into the international break with the word "crisis" in the air.

League leaders Real Madrid also disappointed, struggling to a 3-3 draw away to Poland's Legia Warsaw on Wednesday. But Zinedine Zidane's side have a much easier task as they look to get back on track as Leganes make their first ever league visit to the imposing Santiago Bernabeu stadium in Madrid.

Leganes' early season form has evaporated with three consecutive defeats and they look to be the perfect easy rivals to help Madrid get back on track.

Atletico Madrid booked their place in the last 16 of the Champions League with a 2-1 win over Russia's FC Rostov on Tuesday but have a tricky trip to face an in-form Real Sociedad.

The Basque side moved into sixth place with their win away to Leganes a week ago and will be looking to confirm that against a Atletico whose defender Stefan Savic is out through suspension.

Jose Gimenez looks certain to replace Savic at the heart of the Atletico defence and coach Diego Simeone will have to decide whether to include midfieder Saul Niguez or Angel Correa in his starting team.

--IANS

sam/vm