UEFA Super Cup Preview – Manchester City vs Sevilla: Team news, predicted lineups, where to watch
On Wednesday the 16th of August at 20:00 BST Manchester City and Sevilla go head-to-head for the UEFA Super Cup. The showdown takes place at the Stadio Georgios Karaiskakis, home of Olympiakos.
Manchester City
Rodri’s heroic goal against Inter Milan in the Champions League final was enough to earn the Manchester-based club the treble. Manchester City will be aiming to continue their quest for silverware throughout the 2023/24 season. The UEFA Super Cup offers the Citizens a second chance at silverware already.
City began their Premier League season with an away trip to Burnley. They produced a thorough 3-0 victory against the Lancashire outfit.
Erling Haaland opened his league tally after only 4 minutes played. Adding his second in the 36th minute with a beautiful strike into the top left corner of the Burnley net.
The Citizens finished the game with a goal from Rodri in the 75th minute.
After a positive start to the Premier League season. Man City will be looking to add another trophy to their cabinet. With the current Premier League, Champions League and FA Cup holders looking to gain another continental crown.
Pep Guardiola’s side will be looking to correct the mistakes made during their Community Shield battle with Arsenal. Whereby the Sky Blues lost the penalty shootout to the north London side.
The Man City side will enter Greece severely weakened through injury. Kevin De Bruyne left the pitch in the 23rd minute with a suspected hamstring injury. Ruling the Belgium midfielder out for the foreseeable future.
Furthermore, John Stones and Ruben Dias are both injury doubts for the game in Greece. The injury problems have paved the way for new signings Josko Gvardiol and Mateo Kovacic to make their first starts for the club.
Predicted XI:
Ederson; Walker, Akanji, Gvardiol, Ake; Rodri, Kovacic, Alvarez; Foden, Haaland, Grealish.
Sevilla
Sevilla enter the UEFA Super Cup after an enthralling 4-1 victory on penalties against Jose Mourinho’s Roma side in the Europa League final.
Led by Jose Luis Mendilibar, Sevilla managed a successful European campaign in 2022/23. Knocking out Manchester United 5-2 on aggregate in the quarterfinals. This came after Jorge Sampoali’s sacking in March 2023. Allowing for the arrival of the Spanish manager.
The former Alaves and Eibar manager suffered a defeat on the opening weekend of the 2023/24 La Liga season. Sevilla fell to a 2-1 loss to Valencia after a late Javi Guerra goal.
Los Rojiblancos will likely miss defensive duo Marcao and Nianzou through injury.
Despite Loic Bade’s red card against Valencia at the weekend. Bade will be available to start due to suspension not carrying over to UEFA Competitions.
Sevilla Predicted XI:
Bono; Navas, Gudelj, Bade, Acuna; Jordan, Fernando, Rakitic; Suso, En-Nesyri, Ocampos
Tough night ahead for Sevilla?
Winning the UEFA Super Cup may seem like an impossible task for this Sevilla side. However, their opponent’s injury problems will encourage them.
Yet it is hard to look past Manchester City’s quality and depth. So, despite the loss of Kevin De Bruyne and key defenders. The Man City faithful will be expecting to comprehensively defeat the Spanish side come Wednesday night.
But can Mendilibar and this Sevilla side repeat some magic from last season? Whereby they were able to overcome top teams such as Manchester United and Roma in Europe. It seems unlikely, but the La Liga outfit may find some luck on the counter and in transition.
Where to watch (UK):
Score Prediction:
Manchester City 3-0 Sevilla
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