La Liga preview: Barca head to Sevilla

Barcelona make their return to league action against Sevilla on Sunday after booking their place in the last eight of the Champions League.

Pep Guardiola’s team accounted for English club Arsenal in the second leg of their Champions League round-of-16 tie on Tuesday.

A 3-1 victory at Camp Nou was enough to overturn a 2-1 first-leg deficit and send the Catalan giants through to the quarter finals, 4-3 on aggregate.

Their attention will now shift to the domestic scene and a trip to take on one of La Liga’s more accomplished teams.

Sevilla have been regular contenders for domestic and European honours in recent seasons, but made a poor start to this campaign.

They failed to reach the Champions League group stages and are disappointing eighth in the table.

But coached by the experienced Gregorio Manzano and boasting players of the quality of Frederic Kanoute, Luis Fabiano and Jesus Navas, they are one of the few teams with an outside chance of halting the Barca machine.

The nearest challengers for the La Liga title, Real Madrid, are at home to promoted Hercules.

Jose Mourinho’s side beat Racing Santander 3-1 away from home to keep pace with the league leaders, but any slip up could well result in Barca extending their commanding seven-point lead.

In other matches, third-placed Valencia are away to Real Zaragoza and will be looking to bounce back from a disappointing Champions League exit against Schalke on Wednesday.

Almeria, second from bottom, host inconsistent Atletico Madrid, while bottom side Malaga are away to Real Sociedad.

Espanyol will look to consolidate sixth place with a home win over Deportivo La Coruna.

Mid-table Mallorca travel to Levante with just three points separating the teams.

Racing Santander and Osasuna, 14th and 15th respectively, will be hoping for three points to pull further away from relegation trouble when they meet at Osasuna’s Estadio Reyno de Navarra.

Fourth-placed Villarreal have a winnable match at home to struggling Sporting Gijon.

On Monday, fifth-placed Athletic Bilbao are away to mid-table Getafe.