Competition:UEFA Champions League
Date:22/02/2017
Day:Wednesday
Kick Off:23:45
Venue:Estadio Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán (Sevilla)
Sevilla vs Leicester City predictions for their UEFA Champions League round-of-16 first-leg match at the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan Stadium on Wednesday February 22. Sevilla continue their quest for a fourth consecutive European trophy. Read on for our free predictions and betting tips.
Sevilla vs Leicester City Preview and Prediction
Triple Europa League winners Sevilla are expected to further enhance their fantastic European record by getting past Leicester City to reach the Champions League quarter-finals.
Los Rojiblancos have remarkably lifted the continent’s secondary club competition five times in the last 11 years, including the latest three, but now they have their sights trained on the big one.
And they are certainly not tilting at windmills because this is a team who have put together a challenge for La Liga title this season, reaching the halfway stage matching strides with Real Madrid and Barcelona having deposed Atletico Madrid as the biggest outside threat to those perennial Spanish heavyweights.
The improvement has come in the first season under Jorge Sampaoli, the coach who took Chile to the first of their back-to-back Copa America triumphs, and the Argentine has carried on the good work of his predecessor Unai Emery and actually raised the bar to a new height.
Sevilla’s Vitolo celebrates after scoring a goal (Getty Images)
Indeed, this could be described as a tie between two clubs punching above their weight because we all know what Leicester incredibly achieved last term even though, from a Premier League perspective, it appears to have been very much a one-off.
From being fairytale heroes, the Foxes have reverted to looking more like relegation candidates this time, but that may partly be down to having had to juggle Champions League commitments and they have certainly saved their best performances for Europe.
Leicester cruised through what was admittedly not a difficult group and they have achieved more than enough over the last couple of years to show they should never be written off.
But there is also evidence to suggest the magic is evaporating and with Sevilla very much on an upward curve, we will back them to win the first leg of this tie comfortably to ensure their own dream stays very much alive.
Sevilla vs Leicester City stats
The only Spanish club Leicester have met previously are Atletico Madrid, losing three of those four matches and drawing the other
Eight of Sevilla’s nine matches against English opposition have contained over 2.5 goals
Both teams have scored in seven of those nine games
Recommended bets
Sevilla -1 on the handicap
Sevilla to win to nil
