Real Madrid vs Sevilla – UEFA Super Cup – Preview

Posted on August 8, 2016 by Sreya

Real Madrid will face Sevilla at the Lerkendal Stadion, Trondheim on 9th August, Tuesday for the UEFA Super Cup. Last season’s UEFA Champions League winners have the chance to win their first trophy of the season when they face a depleted Sevilla.

This will be the third straight Spanish UEFA Super Cup fixture with the La Liga clubs absolutely dominating the European competitions in the last few years. While Sevilla completed a hattrick of Europa League triumphs earlier this year, Real Madrid won the UEFA Super Cup in 2014 and Barcelona in 2015.

Sevilla won the Europa League by defeating Liverpool at Basel while Real Madrid saw off Atletico Madrid on penalties after an intense UEFA Champions League final. However, with the departure of Unai Emery and subsequent sales of a number of key players, Sevilla are weakened.

The likes of Ever Banega, Jose Reyes and Grzegorz Krychowiak have already left for greener pastures while Sevilla’s ever famous summer transfer strategies have been somewhat underwhelming till now.

Real Madrid will be without many of their first-team regulars with Cristiano Ronaldo still recuperating from his injuries and on a vacation post the European Championships. Pepe, Gareth Bale and Toni Kroos will be absent as well following their national commitments. Among the players who were not a part of the Euros, notable absentees include the injured Keylor Navas and the unfit Karim Benzema. Zinedine Zidane, however, has called up the Castilla players Mariano, Llorente, Tejero, Odegaard and Luca.

According to Head-2-Head statistics, Real Madrid have won 67% and lost 27% of their matches against Sevilla. According to UEFA, for both teams it is a fifth attempt at the UEFA Super Cup title, all of Madrid’s coming as UEFA Champions League winners.

Real Madrid will start as clear favorites and are likely to win by a scoreline of 2-0, in spite of Zidane possibly fielding a number of youngsters.