Why Carlos Bacca Is the Sevilla Player Barcelona Must Shut Down in Liga Game

Facing Sevilla at the Ramon Sanchez-Pizjuan isn't an easy task and a large part of that is due to striker Carlos Bacca.

If Barcelona are to get a result against Unai Emery's side, they must ensure they don't make any sloppy mistakes at the back which the Colombian hitman can capitalise on.

Barcelona, to their credit, have been strong defensively this season and a large part of that is down to Enrique, and his assistant, Juan Carlos Unzue. 

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Gerard Pique deserves praise too, for dragging himself up from the pit he found himself in and returning to be one of the best defenders in world football.

Alongside him, Javier Mascherano and Jeremy Mathieu have both been strong when called upon and the defence is a tight unit.

It may be further bolstered by the return of Jordi Alba, who Sport's Juan Manuel Diaz said returned to training, despite not being given the all clear by the club's medical department. He wrote:

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Jordi Alba returned to training on Thursday morning as Barcelona began to think about Saturday's trip to Sevilla. It's good news for Luis Enrique, who has been without Alba for Barça's last two league games, although the left-back has not yet been given the medical all clear to return to action.

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However, what that means is Bacca may choose to try and find space between Pique and Dani Alves.

If Sevilla have done their homework, and knowing Emery, they have, they will have seen how Celta Vigo's Nolito ripped Alves to shreds last weekend.

The forward made a mockery of the Brazilian and Barcelona were lucky that he couldn't make them pay at Balaidos.

Bacca has the ability to dribble inside Alves and shoot from range at Claudio Bravo's goal.

With 17 clean sheets in La Liga so far, the Chilean stopper will feel confident he can stop his fellow South American, but would certainly benefit from the help of his defence.

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Alves may not even feature in the game, which might help Barcelona.

Martin Montoya replaced the Brazilian against Almeria in midweek and with Alves suspended for the first leg of the club's Champions League quarter-final, Enrique will want the reserve right-back to get up to speed.

Coupled with the news from Thursday afternoon that Alves will not be renewing his contract at Barcelona, per Sport, and we may see a whole lot more of Montoya.

Given some of Alves' performances lately, Montoya may be the better option for this match anyway, even if he doesn't offer as much as Barcelona are used to, going forward.

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Bacca has 17 La Liga goals this season and, Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi aside, he is third in the Pichichi chart, alongside Neymar.

Messi has 33 and Ronaldo 37, but Ballon d'Or winners aside, Bacca is the most lethal finisher in La Liga right now.

Only seven away goals have been scored at Sevilla's ground in the league this season, so Barcelona cannot let Bacca get a sniff or they will have a mountain to climb.

It's a tough job anyway, as no team in the last 33 matches at the Sanchez-Pizjuan has been able to beat the Andalusians.

With that in mind, and the likelihood that Messi, Neymar or Luis Suarez will be able to grab one goal, the job has to be keeping Bacca quiet at the other end.