Barcelona, the 2014-15 UEFA Champions League winner face Sevilla, the 2014-15 Europa League winner, in the 40th edition of the UEFA Super Cup on Tuesday night organised by UEFA. While Barcelona are arguably favourites in La Liga betting stakes to win the title once again this season, Sevilla will feel they have a decent chance of causing an upset with the teams still effectively going through their pre-season. Anything can happen over 90 minutes.
This will be the first time in the history of the tournament, where a Super Cup match is a rematch of a previous edition. Both the teams met before in the 2006 UEFA Super Cup at the Stade Louis II in Monaco, when Sevilla won 3-0.
Barcelona, the 2014-15 treble winner, have had a relatively good transfer window, despite the club going through a transfer embargo at the moment. The Blaugrana have signed Aleix Vidal from Sevilla, and Arda Turan from Atletico Madrid in the summer, but both the players won’t be able to playfor the club before January.
Sevilla on the other hand have completed few exciting singings in the summer. Attacking midfield areas have been strengthened by the additions of Gael Kakuta (Chelsea), Iago Aspas (Liverpool), Ciro Immobile (centre forward) and Yevhen Konoplyanka (Dnipro on free transfer). Steven N’Zonzi’s inclusion from Stoke City raised few eyebrows, while defensive areas have been covered up by the addition of Adil Rami from AC Milan.
The match involves few interesting sub-plots. Barcelona midfielder Ivan Rakitic has admitted that he still holds an emotional bond with Sevilla, and ahead of the match, the Croatian claimed that Sevilla means “everything” to him.
“Honestly, everything,” said Rakitic when asked what Sevilla means to him. “Because when I say I’m goinghome, I mean I’m going to my house in Seville. That is where my wife is, where my daughter was born. So I have a very special connection, not just with the club, but with the city and all the people there.”