Sevilla-Barcelona: The Two Tasks of Lionel Messi

Sevilla will host Barcelona on Saturday evening in Andalusia, but Lionel Messi will only have to complete his mission in order to make sure that Barcelona stay on top of Real Madrid in the La Liga table.

Let’s attack the subject directly and discover the two most vital tasks of Messi against Sevilla.

Scoring

Messi will need to get at least one goal against Sevilla to get closer to the European Golden Boot Award. Messi has scored seven goals against Sevilla in his career, having scored three doubles against the Andalusians in seven meetings.

Moreover, he is the top scorer on La Liga Top Scorers chart with 31 goals, just ahead of Real Madrid players Gonzalo Higuain and Cristiano Ronaldo.

Higuain and Ronaldo have shown rapid progress in their campaign for the Pichichi award, and the best way in which Messi could stamp his authority in the league as the “outstanding goalscorer” would be through at least a single goal against Sevilla on Saturday.

The Barcelona winger is also on the road to beating the Brazilian Ronaldo’s 34-goal record in La Liga, and he has strong chances of being successful, seeing that he is just three goals behind the legend’s highest club achievement.

Avoiding Tackles

Messi skipping past three to five men in a distance of 15 yards is one of the best things a La Liga fan or a Barcelona supporter could see. However, such moves by the Ballon d’Or winner are highly dangerous, as he could suffer any kind of injuries following inexpert challenges from defenders.

This will nevertheless be something Messi will not have to experience in his match against Sevilla, since La Liga still has one more game to go after this Saturday. Messi being hit by an injury against Sevilla could yet force the visitors to waste points, and hence boost Real Madrid’s confidence of winning the league, depending on Los Blancos’ result against Athletic Bilbao at home.

Surely football is teamwork, so consequently, the displays of other Barcelona players will have an impact on the final result in their encounter against the Andalusians. But whatever they do with the intention of winning at the Estadio Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan, Lionel Messi will have to concentrate on his game and present a faultless performance to his lovers.