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| Sevilla-Barcelona |
The traditional Spanish curtain raiser, the Supercopa de
Espana, takes place on Sunday night at the Estadio Ramon
Sanchez Pizjuan, and both Barcelona and
Sevilla will look to try and dominate
the ball, and as a result, the match as a whole.
Luis
Enrique's double winners come into the game full of confidence whilst the
Andalusians are still reeling from a last-minute defeat to Real Madrid in the UEFA Super Cup in Trondheim.
It's the
third final that the two have played against each other in the last 12 months -
last season's UEFA Super Cup and Copa del Rey both ending in victories for the
Blaugrana.
Since then,
Sevilla have a new face on the bench, and the experienced Jorge Sampaoli comes
with a particular style in mind which he will not change no matter the
opponent.
A disciple
of 'El Loco' Marcelo Bielsa, the Chilean is heavily influenced by the
Argentinean's style and he'll ask his players to press high, keep possession
and take risks if they want to emerge victorious.
Both sides
are likely to be a little more measured in this first leg however, given that
the second follows just a few days later.
Barcelona
will play their usual more direct passing game whilst Sevilla will try a
different tactic than that used under Unai Emery - when they were happy to go
to war but often with expensive consequences.
Sampaoli's
way of conducting business wouldn't look out of place at the Camp Nou and his
right hand man is Juanma Lillo who Pep Guardiola once described as "the
best prepared assistant in the world."
Sevilla know
that they will have to suffer again if they want to emerge victorious, and
there's a fine balancing act to be adhered to in that the team needs to defend
its principles but also take the game to the opponents, which means leaving
their own comfort zone at times.
The Catalans
will most likely dominate the possession statistics and Sampaoli's challenge is
to give Luis Enrique's charges some food for thought throughout.
Barcelona's
starting XI will take on a familiar look with the only changes expected at the
back.
Jordi Alba
is injured meaning that Lucas Digne will get an early chance to stake a regular
claim in the left-back slot, whilst Aleix Vidal is unlikely to get the
opportunity to play against his old side, Enrique preferring Sergi Roberto at
right-back.
Sampaoli has
already announced that the eleven that start on Sunday will be vastly different
from the side he puts out on Wednesday.
Therefore,
the home support will be hoping that there is still all to play for at the
conclusion of Sunday night's 90 minutes.
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