It’s always enticing when Barcelona play Sevilla, but it’ll be especially intriguing this weekend given their respective league positions.

Following the international break, club football is back this weekend and there is a blockbuster fixture on Saturday evening, as Barcelona host Sevilla. This is a meeting between the team that won the La Liga title last season and the club currently top of the table, with Sevilla having collected 16 points from the first eight rounds, one more than second-place Barcelona.

Regardless of their respective league positions, this fixture is usually an exciting one and is one which both sets of coaches, players and fans mark in red on their calendars when the schedule is announced.

It is a fixture packed with history and the latest chapter in this story will be written this Saturday night.

WHAT EXACTLY IS AT STAKE?

It’s not an exaggeration to say that this match could decide who wins the league championship. Even if Sevilla’s coach Pablo Machin has played down talk of a push for the title, the fact of the matter is that they are top and that stranger things have happened. It’s not beyond the realms of possibility for Los Nervionenses to compete for and win the title, and if they are to do so then a victory at the Camp Nou would make a major statement.

For Barcelona, they’ll always consider themselves as title candidates, so they’ll be giving their all for the three points. With Atletico Madrid and Real Madrid just over their shoulders in the standings, there can be no more margin for error, especially after the Blaugrana have taken just three points from their past four La Liga Santander matches.

WHY IS THIS MATCH SO IMPORTANT TO THE FANS?

For Sevilla supporters, they’d love to defeat Barcelona in order to avenge some of their recent defeats. The Andalusian club were thrashed 5-0 in last season’s Copa del Rey final in April, before narrowly losing the Spanish Super Cup 2-1 when they played Barcelona in Morocco in August. From the point of view of the Sevilla fans, it’s about time they enjoyed a win against Ernesto Valverde’s side.

The Barcelona fans, meanwhile, will be desperate to see their side win a home match. They’ve not won at the Camp Nou since September 18th, which will have been over a month ago by the time this game kicks off.

Sevilla ran riot over Real Madrid, winning 3-0 at home.

WHY DOES THIS MATCH MATTER INTERNATIONALLY?

As two of the most exciting and attractive teams to watch in La Liga Santander, these clubs have admirers far and wide. Barcelona’s style has enthralled international audiences for years, while the direct style of football Sevilla play under Machin has been making people sit up and notice. So far this season Sevilla have already scored 42 goals in all competitions, making them the second-top scorers of all the teams in the five major European leagues. Only PSG have been putting the ball in the net more regularly than the La Liga leaders.

Article courtesy of La Liga Santander.