Barcelona coach Xavi Hernandez said he wants his team to play fiercely and not to be afraid when they face La Liga second-placed Sevilla on Tuesday, showing respect and admiration for their opponent.
"Sevilla is doing an amazing job," Xavi told a news conference on Monday.
He continued, "You can look at Bayern Munich, who are doing a great job, but what I like about Seville is the way they work and their coach (Julen Lopetegui) is one of the best coaches, and he also has (Monchi) the sporting director. Sevilla should be a model for us."
In a postponed match from the fourth round, "Barca" is facing a difficult test against the Andalusian team, which has lost only twice in the league this season.
Sevilla beat Atletico Madrid 2-1 on Saturday, moving them 6 points away from leaders Real Madrid.
Xavi said, "We must have the courage to beat clubs like Sevilla. We played bravely against Bayern, but we lost 3-0 because of small details. In our identity we have to play fiercely, but Sevilla have that too. It will be an amazing match."
Barcelona is seventh, 16 points behind Real Madrid, although Seville coach Lopetegui sees the development in the Catalan team's performance since Xavi took charge a month ago.
Lopetegui said - in a press conference - "We had a difficult match on Saturday and now we will play another difficult match against a competitor that has developed a lot. What I see now is the best version of Barcelona in a long time, it is developing a group of talented youngsters, and Ousmane Dembele has also returned from injury." I expect to face a strong and complex team with the touches of Xavi."
Seville suffers from injuries, as today's training witnessed the participation of only 15 players.
Lucas Ocampos, Diego Carlos, Marcos Acuña and Gonzalo Montell missed the Atletico match due to injury, and they may return against Barcelona.
The absence of Jesus Navas and Eric Lamela was confirmed, and Youssef Al-Nusairi may return after being away for several weeks.