2015 UEFA Super Cup Preview: FC Barcelona vs Sevilla FC

uefa-supercup-2015

Another year of an all-Spanish UEFA Super Cup final. The UEFA Super Cup which is played between the winners of the UEFA Champions Cup and the UEFA Europa League will this time witness Barcelona and Sevilla clash for the honours at the Georgian capital of Tbilisi. There’s already a frenzied rush for tickets with reports of scores of fans getting injured in the process.

For Sevilla, it is a consecutive entry into the Super Cup finals having featured last year in an encounter with another Spanish and European giant, Real Madrid. The Andalusian club fresh on the heels of their Europa League win have their morale high going into the August 11 clash. Sevilla were impressive in their 3-2 win against a very determined and dour Ukrainian club FC Dnipro in the Europa finals and were even more so when they pulverised a strong Fiorentina side 5-0 in the semis. While their European outing was a huge success Sevilla wished they could have done better in the domestic La Liga where they are placed fifth. In their two encounters with Barcelona in the 2014-15 La Liga season, Sevilla managed to draw 2-2 with the Catalan giants at home but were crushed 1-5 in the away game at Camp Nou. The Andalusians will look to their star forwards, Kevin Gameiro and 28-year old Carlos Bacca to produce results at Tbilisi. For Bacca who scored as many as 28 goals for his club this season the August 11 match could be his last as he will be in all probability moving to Italian club, AC Milan.

It would take a lot of doing on the part of the Sevilla defense to keep the marauding Barca trio of Messi, Neymar and Suarez at bay in Tbilisi. With an astonishing 122 goals between them this season, the terrible trio has ensured that no title is safe from the Blaugrana. The ease with which the Catalans overcame Italian powerhouse Juventus FC 3-1 in the UEFA Champions finals is an indicator of what could be in store for Sevilla. Luis Enrique would probably refrain from changing his game plan and formation for the Super Cup final considering the kind of success he has got from his deft strategies this season.

Barcelona have won the Super Cup on 4 occasions from their 8 final appearances so far. Their recent wins were in 2009 and 2011 during the famous Pep Guardiola years. Sevilla have won just one title from their 3 final appearances. The one they won in 2006 was interestingly against Barcelona. Incidentally a 19-year old Lionel Messi was around at that time. But the Barcelona of 2015 under Messi & Co. is a different piece of cake altogether. It would take a miracle for Sevilla at the Boris Paichadze Dinamo Arena, Tbilisi, to deny the Spanish and European champions their 5th Super Cup title.

No wonder the odds are stacked heavily in the Catalans’ favour.
The most popular odds are 65% favouring a Barcelona win, 17% a win for Sevilla and 18% for a draw.

About Aaron

My name's Aaron and I'm a great Barça fan. I like to tell it like it is and if there is something I don't like about the club or something that needs addressing, you'll know!