Opponent watch: Sevilla’s struggles against Barcelona stretches to 21 years without a win | OneFootball

As Barcelona prepare to face Sevilla at the Lluis Companys stadium, a fascinating statistic has emerged.

For what it is worth, Sevilla have a dismal track record when it comes to playing Barcelona away in La Liga. In fact, they have not beaten the Catalan giants in an away league fixture for 21 seasons.

The last time Sevilla managed a victory at Barcelona’s home ground in the league was back in the 2002-03 season, during a memorable 3-0 win that marked a low point for the Blaugrana under then-president Joan Gaspart.

Memory lane

That victory came when Sevilla were still in a phase of rebuilding, having only recently returned to the top division after their promotion.

Sevilla made an early breakthrough with a penalty scored by Javier Casquero. However, the true fireworks came later, with substitute Mariano Toedtli coming off the bench to score twice.

Sevilla’s last win against Barcelona came in the 2002/03 season. (Photo by FiroFoto/Getty Images)

Barcelona, under Louis van Gaal, were enduring one of their worst runs in history, sitting in 14th place in the league at the time.

The team featured notable players like Riquelme, Patrick Kluivert, Marc Overmars, and the De Boer brothers, but success eluded them during that campaign.

Since that 2002-03 victory, Sevilla have struggled to replicate their success at Barcelona’s home. Their only other notable win at Camp Nou came in the Copa del Rey, in January 2010, when they triumphed 2-1.

Goals from Negredo and Diego Capel helped Sevilla advance, knocking out Pep Guardiola’s Dream Team in the process.

Despite that cup success, Sevilla’s league performances at Barcelona have been poor, with 18 defeats and just 3 draws since their last win.

Some of the losses have been heavy, including several 4-0 defeats (2008-09, 2009-10, 2019-20), a 5-0 loss in 2010-11, and other high-scoring defeats like 5-1 in 2014-15, 4-2 in 2018-19, and two 3-0 results in 2016-17 and 2022-23.