Julen Lopetegui believes Barcelona finally have a clear vision for their future as his Sevilla side attempt to inflict one final blow of a terrible year for the struggling giants.
It has been a woefully grim 2021 for Barcelona, with the club having encountered dire financial problems that were a factor behind their greatest player, Lionel Messi, being forced to leave.
On the field, they won the Copa del Rey in April but have endured a torrid time in the Champions League and LaLiga, with another club legend, Ronald Koeman, losing his job as coach as a result.
The COVID-19 crisis has hit Barcelona hard, but out of the chaos of the last 12 months has risen an emerging group of young players who could save the club a fortune in transfer fees and point to a bright future on the pitch.
The likes of Pedro, Gavi, Ez Abde and Nico Gonzalez have come to the fore, at a time when Barcelona cannot rush to the cheque book to solve their problems.
With Xavi returning to the club as head coach, there are grounds for optimism again at Barcelona. Yet results continue to be mixed, and the perennial LaLiga title challengers are nowhere near that battle this time around as they head into their final game of the calendar year.
They travel to face a Sevilla side who sit second and are six points behind leaders Real Madrid with a game in hand.
Former Spain and Madrid boss Lopetegui would love his team to head into the winter break on a high, with this season one where they may not have to worry unduly about Barcelona entering the title race.
That could change if seventh-placed Barca win on Tuesday and shrink their deficit to Sevilla down to seven points, and Lopetegui has seen enough of Xavi's work-in-progress team to be wary of their threat.
Yet a 2-1 win at the weekend against last season's champions Atletico Madrid means Sevilla are on a high.
Lopetegui said in Monday's pre-game news conference: "Very recently we were playing one tough game and now another that is even tougher awaits us.
"We will measure ourselves against one of the best Barcelona [teams] for a long time.
"They have improved a lot, with players that you'd struggle to see at other teams, young but very good. They have got players back such as [Ousmane] Dembele, so we're expecting them to be very strong and with the influence of Xavi.
"We'll try to be fully recovered and prepare well, today we trained with 13 first-team players so we'll have to wait until tomorrow to make our final decisions."
Sevilla and Barcelona have both scored 28 goals in LaLiga this season, but the leakier defence has been that of the Catalan giants, shipping 21 in 17 games compared to Sevilla's league-best 12 conceded. Curiously, Barcelona have made just one error that has led to a goal, while Sevilla have made four.
These teams have scored their goals in strikingly different manners, with Sevilla having an even split between right-footed and left-footed goals among their haul – 11 of each – while Barcelona have scored just three left-footed goals and 20 right-footed, a sure sign that the Messi era has passed.
There has also been a major disparity between the finishing of each team. Barcelona have an expected goals (xG) score of 31.06 in LaLiga, but have fallen short of matching that, while Sevilla have impressively outperformed their xG total of 22.34 to stay on Madrid's coat-tails.
These teams like to have the ball, so something must give on Tuesday.
Barcelona have had 65.02 per cent of possession across their games this season, while Sevilla have had the ball 60.39 per cent of the time.
Injuries might be biting, but this is no time for searching for excuses, with Lopetegui insisting Barcelona's 3-2 win over Elche on Saturday did not fairly reflect the dominance of Xavi's team. Barcelona led the shot count 19-5 in that game, were 2.8 to 1 ahead on xG, and had 73.4 per cent of possession.
Lopetegui said: "You can see what Barcelona are looking for and they have the right players for that. They want the ball, they want width. They've got young, capable players, some of them start for Spain, while they've got top-class, experienced players. They have a lot of width, they're good at one-on-one situations, etc. Between the two areas we're going to have to do a lot of things right."
St. Louis City v LA Galaxy: Reus sets sights on silverware after dream start
Marco Reus is desperate to bring silverware to the LA Galaxy after making a flying start to his time in MLS, with St. Louis City the destination for his first road game on Sunday.
Reus registered a goal and an assist on debut last week as the Galaxy beat Atlanta United 2-0, maintaining their grip on top spot in the Western Conference.
The Galaxy are five points clear of local rivals Los Angeles FC at the top of the standings ahead of Sunday's trip to St. Louis, who are 13th and 10 points adrift of the playoff picture.
Reus' arrival in Los Angeles has caused plenty of fanfare, but he is focused solely on the team's collective aims.
"It's not about me, it's about the team," he said. "We want to be champions. So we take it game by game.
"Besides the traffic, it's really amazing. The people are so friendly. The weather, it's really nice. When you wake up in the morning and the sun is shining, you start the day differently.
"So I'm really, really happy every morning I come into the dressing room. I'm just happy and excited."
St. Louis played out a thrilling 4-4 draw with the Portland Timbers last week, twice throwing away a two-goal lead to leave interim coach John Hackworth bewildered.
"Really don't know what to say," Hackworth said. "It's hard to imagine coming to a place like this and scoring four goals, being up, and then just losing one-versus-one defensive battles.
"Sometimes, the number of goals you give up, or the number of goals you score, can hide a lot of the transition moments.
"An easy way to prevent some of these defensive miscues from happening is to just be better with the ball."
PLAYERS TO WATCH
St. Louis City – Eduard Lowen
Lowen scored his fourth goal of the MLS season last time out, converting from the penalty spot as St. Louis drew 4-4 with the Timbers.
Only Joao Klauss, with five goals, has outscored him for St. Louis this term.
LA Galaxy – Marco Reus
Reus is one of 20 players in MLS history to record a goal and an assist on his regular-season debut.
He is also the fifth Galaxy player to do so, after Steven Gerrard, Andreas Herzog, Giovani dos Santos and Sasha Victorine. No other team have had more than two players achieve the feat.
MATCH PREDICTION – DRAW
The Galaxy have won 10 of their last 13 regular-season matches, the first time they have done so in a single season since 2011. LA have not recorded 11 wins in a span of 14 matches within a single regular season in the post-shootout era (since 2000).
It would be no surprise to see the points shared in this one, though. All three meetings between St. Louis and the Galaxy have ended level, all with different scorelines (1-1, 2-2, 3-3).
St. Louis have only won one of the last six matches in which they have held the lead in regular-season play dating back to the beginning of June (four draws, one defeat).
OPTA WIN PROBABILITY
St. Louis City – 35.8%
LA Galaxy – 38.1%
Draw – 26.1%
Raphinha hails Barcelona after statement win over Valladolid
Barcelona forward Raphinha believes the team have laid down a statement of their intent by starting the season with four straight wins in LaLiga.
Raphinha scored the first hat-trick of his career and also delivered two assists on Saturday, as Barca crushed Real Valladolid 7-0 at Camp Nou.
Hansi Flick's side already possess a four-point cushion at the top of the table after also recording victories over Valencia, Athletic Bilbao and Rayo Vallecano.
Raphinha believes their results have demonstrated the club got things right in the transfer market, telling Movistar: "Today's game has shown that there is no need for anyone else to come. We are very happy because of that.
"We are in very good shape. The team is working hard. Today's result shows what we are working for.
"We saw that the coach was on the sidelines asking for more goals and that's our mentality.
"We are hungry and want to score as many goals as we can. When we are dominant like we have been, the best way to respect our rivals is not taking the foot off the gas."
Raphinha was one of the players who faced criticism during Barca's trophyless 2023-24 campaign and was rumoured to be on his way out ahead of the new season.
The Blaugrana again battled financial restrictions throughout the window, allowing Ilkay Gundogan to leave in order to secure the registration of new arrival Dani Olmo.
With his future now certain, Raphinha is keen to nail down a starting spot and contribute on a regular basis.
"I don't know if today's was my best game, but it's certainly among my best. I will try to play even better and as much as I can," the Brazilian said.
"I'm very happy to be able to help the team. I feel good. I knew that this season would be very important for me. I'm looking for my best version to help my team-mates and be more confident."
Lazio 2-2 Milan: Leao salvages draw but Rossoneri still winless
Rafael Leao came off the bench to earn Milan a 2-2 draw with Lazio at the Stadio Olimpico on Saturday, but Paulo Fonseca's side are still without a Serie A win this season.
Milan were in front at the break through Strahinja Pavlovic's eighth-minute goal, the Serbian rising highest to power home a header from Christian Pulisic's corner.
However, Lazio hit back in the second half with Valentin Castellanos and Boulaye Dia scoring in quick succession.
Nuno Tavares' first-time ball into the centre was met by the unmarked Castellanos to level in the 62nd minute, then Dia tapped another Tavares cutback home to put the Biancocelesti ahead four minutes later.
Fonseca reacted by sending on four substitutes, and those changes had a swift impact as three of them combined for the leveller.
Theo Hernandez – who joined Leao in being dropped from the start – picked out Tammy Abraham, and his lay-off allowed Leao to escape Tavares to fire past Ivan Provedel.
The game was preceded by an emotional tribute to the man who led Lazio to their last league title, Sven-Goran Eriksson, who died at the age of 76 on Monday.
A Lazio shirt bearing the Swede's name was displayed on the home bench, while a banner held up by the home fans read: "You brought us to the top of the world... Have a good trip Mr. Sven."
Data Debrief: Milan's slow start continues
New Milan boss Fonseca is already under pressure after overseeing a return of two points from his first three league games at the helm.
It is the first time the Rossoneri have drawn two of their opening three matches in a Serie A season since 2011-12, when they also drew two and lost one,
They went on to finish second that season, just four points adrift of champions Juventus. If a title challenge is to take place this term, rapid improvements are needed.
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