The true king of Europe

As the 2023/2024 Champions League champions, Man City are participating in the UEFA Super Cup for the first time. Meanwhile, their opponents, Sevilla, are a regular fixture, having appeared five times before. Only four teams have played in the UEFA Super Cup more times than the Spanish representative (Barcelona, Real Madrid, AC Milan, and Liverpool).

Man City had a promising start to the season in domestic competitions. They lost the Community Shield to Arsenal, but that was an unfortunate defeat on penalties after conceding a goal in the 11th minute of added time in the second half. On the opening day of the Premier League, Pep Guardiola's side easily beat Burnley 3-0.

The biggest concern for the reigning Champions League champions right now is the injury to several key players. John Stones and Ruben Dias were not registered to play in the first round of the Premier League. Meanwhile, Kevin De Bruyne and Bernardo Silva are still not fully fit to play.

On the other side of the pitch, Sevilla entered the new season with significant additions to their squad. The Europa League champions did not lose any key players during the transfer window – except for Bryen Gil and Alex Telles returning to their parent clubs after loan spells. Loic Balde and Djibril Sow were signed early to fill the gaps.

Sevilla is not only a familiar face in the European Super Cup in terms of team reputation. Many members of the club also have experience playing in matches between the two European champions. They just played against Bayern Munich in 2020 and still have 11 players from that squad remaining.

Sevilla's recent form has worried their fans. They lost to Valencia 1-2 at home in their first match of the season. Prior to that, in the pre-season friendlies, Luis Mendilibar's team only won two matches (excluding penalty shootouts). Notably, in their last seven matches, Sevilla have scored no more than one goal against their opponents.

The head-to-head record favors Man City. The English team has won all four previous encounters against Sevilla, scoring a total of 12 goals. In terms of both strength and form, Man City is superior to Sevilla.