Barcelona head to Sevilla with unbeaten record on line

The last time a club was this close to an unbeaten season in La Liga, they came unstuck at Sevilla.

Barcelona, with concerns over the fitness of Lionel Messi, travel to the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan Stadium on Saturday, looking to extend their own undefeated run this term to 30 league games.

It was Real Sociedad who had gone 32 without loss in the 1979-80 season, only two away from finishing the then 34-game season as invincibles.

But, in the penultimate match, Sevilla snatched a 2-1 win thanks to Ricardo Bertonis double, his second an 83rd-minute winner. Sevilla would finish eighth that year, Sociedad second, one point behind Real Madrid.

Barca will almost certainly not surrender the league title if history repeats itself this weekend, their 11-point lead over Atletico Madrid surely too wide a gap to close, but they would give up the chance of being the first side to end a 20-team La Liga season unbeaten.

They are now three games away from matching Sociedads best ever single-season streak and two from equalling that same Sociedad team's longest run without loss overall, which amounted to 38 games when including the previous season too.

After Sevilla, Barcelona play Leganes and Valencia at home, Celta Vigo and Deportivo La Coruna away before hosting Real Madrid on May 6. They then finish at home to Villarreal, away to Levante and at home to Sociedad.

This Sevilla, although sixth and set to miss out on Champions League qualification, arguably represent Barcelona's biggest obstacle in those final nine fixtures.

Valencia, who are fourth, and Real, who would certainly revel in scuppering the bid, will offer stern tests but both at least come at the Camp Nou. Barcelona have not lost a league game on their own patch in 19 months.

Coach Ernesto Valverde has never attached much significance to the unbeaten streak, preferring to focus his players' gaze on the title, but as that prize becomes increasingly secure, he might see it as a welcome bonus.

"We're delighted with how things are going and that record says we must be doing something right," Valverde said in February.

- Bettering Guardiola -
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"He has a little trouble which we have to take into account. Discomfort is one thing. If this leads to a muscle breakdown it is much more serious."