Barcelona v Sevilla preview: Lionel Messi to make 600th appearance
Saturday 4 November 2017 18:57, UK
Lionel Messi is set to make his 600th Barcelona appearance against Sevilla on Saturday, with head coach Ernesto Valverde saying he has "run out of adjectives" to describe the Argentina international.
Messi will join Xavi and Andres Iniesta as the only players to reach the milestone for the Catalan giants when they host Sevilla, live on Sky Sports Football.
It would be the latest landmark for Messi in a career littered with individual, club and international records, and Valverde admits there is not much more he can add to the list of plaudits already used to describe the 30-year-old.
"We've run out of adjectives to describe Messi's career and what he's done with this club," said Valverde. "600 games at one club, with the goals he's scored, the assists, the brilliance, it's extraordinary.
"It"s not just the 600 games, it's how those 600 games have been that shows what Messi means."
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Barca have claimed 28 points from a possible 30 in La Liga since Valverde took over in the summer, scoring 28 goals while conceding only three.
That has left them four points ahead of surprise-package Valencia in second, with defending champions Real Madrid eight points back in third.
Sevilla, meanwhile, are nine points behind Barca in fifth, but Valverde is not under-estimating the Andalusian outfit.
He said: "Sevilla's morale is high after two good games, but we're focused and going for the win. It"s a very dangerous game for us. They won't play ultra defensively, it will be hard for us to gain possession.
"While it's always good to go into an international break feeling good, Sevilla are tough."
Sevilla have bounced back from a painful run of defeats to Athletic Bilbao, Spartak Moscow and Valencia by winning their last three games.
That included a 2-1 home Champions League triumph over Spartak on Wednesday to help erase the memories of their 5-1 hammering in Russia, and give them renewed confidence heading into a testing period of fixtures.
Head coach Eduardo Berizzo said: "I always imagine being able to win all of the matches, although to do so you need to do a lot of things well.
"At the Nou Camp, you need to play a perfect match. I would like Sevilla to apply a lot of pressure as I don't want us to feel dominated.
"You have to expend a lot of energy to make Barca uncomfortable and if they're allowed to dominate the game you end up submitting to them.
"The game is very long, I prefer taking risks throughout and pressing the opponent's goal."
On fellow Argentinian Messi - who has scored 523 goals and won 30 titles during his 13 years in Barca's first team - Berizzo said: "One-on-one he is unstoppable, but with our system we can hold him back.
"When he gets the ball and charges through the line he is unstoppable, but we can stifle him."
