Barcelona, Sevilla prepare ahead of UEFA Super Cup clash

Spanish heavyweights Barcelona and Sevilla prepared on Monday for their UEFA Super Cup clash in the Georgian capital Tbilisi.

The match pits last year’s Champions League winners, Barcelona, as the favourites against Europa League winners Sevilla, who finished four places behind their opponents in the Spanish La Liga last season.

Barcelona will be missing the lethal touch of Neymar in attack for Tuesday’s final but will still be able to call upon Argentine talisman Lionel Messi and Uruguayan striker Luis Suarez.

Alongside them is likely to be Pedro, who could be making his last appearance for the club after being strongly linked with a move to Manchester United.

Barcelona head coach Luis Enrique insisted that despite winning the treble last year, his team were not the favourites.

“I don’t care whether we are favourites to win or not,” said the Barca boss.

“If you think that way, because of what we have achieved so far, that doesn’t matter. What we have to do is show how we have improved on the pitch but we know this will be a tough game. In fact, it was very hard to beat them in recent matches, it is always very difficult to beat them. It is very exciting to be playing the Super Cup and we are looking forward to tomorrow.”

Another player who Luis Enrique can call upon is experienced midfielder Andreas Iniesta, who has taken over as captain this season in the wake of long-term colleague and friend Xavi at the end of the previous campaign.

Iniesta, who has won everything there is to win in the game, says that whilst he is honoured to be captain, it doesn’t change his role in the team, and how he is seen by his team mates.

The captain, who has been at the club since he was 15, and will be playing his 550th game for the Catalan side, can definitely call on the support of his friend, defender Dani Alves, who said they were going to be trying extra hard to support Iniesta.

“We are here now, and we have to enjoy it and we are going to give it our all. We are going to do everything that we can, especially now that Andreas (Iniesta) is captain for the first time,” said the cheerful Brazilian.

Despite coming into the match off the back of a treble season, Barcelona will know they are in for a difficult match against Sevilla, who have won back-to-back Europa Leagues and have now qualified for the Champions League due to their success in the lesser of the European competitions.

They lost last year’s Super Cup 2-0 to fellow Spaniards Real Madrid.

Coach Unai Emery, the mastermind of both those successes, says his team are looking forward to Tuesday’s game, and other big matches this season, particularly in the Champions League.

Sevilla kick-off their Spanish league campaign on August 21, whilst Barcelona begin their title defence two days later.