Manchester City will attempt to add another European trophy to their cabinet on Wednesday in the first UEFA Super Cup in their history as they prepare to face Europa League winners Sevilla in Athens.
Man City are coming into this final having played two competitive matches already this season.
The first game of their 2023/24 campaign saw them lose on penalties in the FA Community Shield to Arsenal following a 1-1 draw in a fairly rusty performance.
Things improved in Lancashire last Friday night as Pep Guardiola's men opened their Premier League account for the season with a 3-0 win away at Burnley courtesy of an Erling Haaland brace followed by a third from Rodri.
It was by no means vintage City but it was much closer to what you'd expect from the Premier League champions as they entered the game wounded by a few notable injury absentees.
Guardiola has said his side's short preseason, a consequence of only playing their last game of the season in June, has meant his side are still very much getting up to speed but they have shown enough so far to suggest they can weather any early season struggles.
Haaland looked extremely sharp at Turf Moor in Friday while Foden looked impressive in spells, and Rodri looked at his composed best even if the rest of the team still have a few gears to move through before they're firing at 100%.
Sevilla's European pedigree is no secret and they're arguably the club ,most adept at securing success in Europe relative to resources but City are coming into this game in decent shape even if they are set to be missing a couple of key first team cogs. With the big man fit and firing they'll fancy their chances of adding this trophy to their growing list of achievements.
Sevilla kicked off their La Liga campaign at the weekend with a disappointing 1-2 loss to a Valencia side that spent last season battling relegation.
Sevilla went behind on the hour mark before Youssef En-Nesyri before Javi Guerra sealed all three points on 88 minutes for the away side after Sevilla were reduced to ten men just seven minutes earlier.
The game represented a less than ideal start to the season for the Andalusian side who will hope that this is not a window into how the rest of their campaign will play out.
It's still early days, of course, but Sevilla were not particularly convincing in front of their own fans at the weekend and even if that doesn't say much about how their season will pan out it does not bode well for an upcoming game against the reigning Champions League winners.
This is a very similar side to the one that won the Europa League last season with Djibril Sow, the Swiss midfielder from Eintracht Frankfurt, having arrived and Bryan Gil having departed to Tottenham Hotspur following his loan spell.
We know that league form is generally not a great indicator of European performance for Sevilla but these two sides met in the Champions League last season and City won both group games by a combined scoreline of 7-1.
Those games, in fairness, were before the appointment of manager José Luis Mendilibar so they may be more competitive here, but the eventual result should be no different in Athens.
For our Manchester City vs. Sevilla prediction, we're going for a 2-0 win for Pep Guardiola's side.
Don’t forget to check out the rest of our previews, tips and offers for this weekend’s action.
