Why Sevilla and Unai Emery will fear Lionel Messi even MORE than usual...
If there is one team Lionel Messi has been especially good against, it's Sevilla. The Andalusian side are the Argentine's favoured 'victim': his 25 goals (20 in La Liga, three in the Spanish Super Cup, two in the European Super Cup) in 25 games make him the biggest threat to Unai Emery's side, who this Wednesday won the fifth Europa League of their history.
Messi has also scored 25 goals against Atletico Madrid, but he's needed 30 games to net them. Real Madrid are third in the ranking with 21 goals conceded to the best player in the world, who this Sunday will lead Barcelona's attack in the Copa del Rey.
La Pulga's 'romance' with Sevilla has increased even more in recent encounters as he's scored 11 goals in the last seven games he's played against them (scoring in each outing). What's more, his last three goals against them have all been from free-kicks, which forced Emery into thinking of surprise ways to defend against Messi set plays.
In total, Leo has scored against 88 different sides. Of the 503 goals he's bagged as a professional (453 with Barça and 50 with Argentina), five per cent have been against Sevilla and another five per cent against Atleti.
It should be pointed out that the man from Rosario also scored four goals against Sevilla in the Copa del Rey juvenil in 2004. Since then, he's scored two hat-tricks against them and four doubles. The first hat-trick was in the Spanish Super Cup in 2010 and the second in a league game last season.
As far as results go, the Argentine has 17 wins, four draws and four losses against Sevilla. He has (still) not scored against them in the Copa del Rey, though. Will that change on Sunday?
