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Barcelona v Sevilla: Tbilisi UEFA Super Cup facts

Dani Alves could match Paolo Maldini when Barcelona look to keep up their hoodoo over Unai Emery against Sevilla on 11 August in Tbilisi: UEFA.com has the full lowdown.

Can Dani Alves win the UEFA Super Cup again against his former club?
Can Dani Alves win the UEFA Super Cup again against his former club? ©Getty Images

Third all-Spanish UEFA Super Cup after 2006 and 2014, each involving Sevilla
Sevilla beat Barcelona 3-0 in 2006 with Dani Alves their star man
Alves hopes to equal Paolo Maldini's records of four wins and five appearances
Barcelona, in record ninth appearance, aiming to match Milan's record of five wins
Unai Emery without win in 19 meetings with Barcelona as coach, Lionel Messi scoring 22
Tbilisi stages first UEFA football final having also hosted 2013 UEFA Futsal Cup

For the second year running, Sevilla face Spanish opposition in the UEFA Super Cup, but will hope to emulate their 2006 defeat of Tbilisi opponents Barcelona rather than the loss against Real Madrid 12 months ago in Cardiff.

• Barcelona booked a record ninth appearance with their 3-1 victory over Juventusin theUEFA Champions Leaguefinal in Berlin.

• The previous week Sevilla had retained the UEFA Europa League title, coming from behind to beat Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk 3-2 in Warsaw.

UEFA Super Cup pedigree

• This is Barcelona's ninth UEFA Super Cup, two more than any other team. Their record is W4 L4:
1979: L1-2 agg v Nottingham Forest (0-1 a, 1-1 h)
1982: L1-3 agg v Aston Villa (1-0 h, 0-3aet a)
1989: L1-2 agg v AC Milan (1-1 h, 0-1 a)
1992: W3-2 agg v Werder Bremen (1-1 a, 2-1 h)
1997: W3-1 agg v Borussia Dortmund (2-0 h, 1-1 a)
2006: L0-3 v Sevilla (Monaco)
2009: W1-0aet v Shakhtar Donetsk (Monaco)
2011: W2-0 v FC Porto (Monaco)

• A fifth win would equal Milan's record; Barcelona's four defeats is already the most for any side.

• Their 1992, 2009 and 2011 triumphs, as well as 2006 loss, came as European Cup/UEFA Champions League holders.

• Barcelona's 1997 win and their 1979 and 1982 reverses were as UEFA Cup Winners' Cup holders.

Sevilla have featured in three previous UEFA Super Cups, all as UEFA Cup/UEFA Europa League winners. Their record is W1 L2:
2006: W3-0 v Barcelona (Monaco)
2007: L1-3 v AC Milan (Monaco)
2014: L0-2 v Real Madrid (Cardiff)

• This is the third UEFA Super Cup between two Spanish clubs after 2006 and 2014.

• There were previously two all-Italian games. Milan bettered Sampdoria in 1990 but lost to Parma three years later.

Head to head
• The sides have met 152 times in all competitions, with Barcelona recording 80 wins to Sevilla's 38. There have been 34 draws.

• In the Liga last season, Barcelona defeated Sevilla 5-1 at the Camp Nou and drew 2-2 away to stretch their unbeaten record against their opponents to 11 matches since a 2-1 home loss in the Copa del Rey in January 2010.

Lionel Messi celebrates his latest goal against Unai Emery in April
Lionel Messi celebrates his latest goal against Unai Emery in April©Getty Images

• In the home 5-1 victory, Lionel Messi got a hat-trick for Barça to break Telmo Zarra's long-standing record of 251 Liga goals. Messi and Neymar put Barcelona 2-0 up in Seville before Éver Banega and Kevin Gameiro secured a draw.

• They may have lost the 2006 UEFA Super Cup, but Barcelona beat Sevilla 4-1 on aggregate in the 1995/96 UEFA Cup round of 16, drawing 1-1 away before a 3-1 Camp Nou success.

Barcelona also overcame Sevilla in the 2010 Spanish Super Cup, losing 3-1 away but winning 4-0 at home courtesy of a Messi treble.

Key facts
• Dani Alves was named man of the match for Sevilla in the 2006 encounter, lining up against possible Tbilisi team-mates Messi and substitute Andrés Iniesta.

• Having also won with Barcelona in 2009 and 2011, Alves could equal Paolo Maldini's record of four UEFA Super Cup victories.

• If Alves plays he will match Maldini's record of taking part in five separate UEFA Super Cups. The appearance record is eight by Maldini's Milan colleagues Alessandro Costacurta and Roberto Donadoni but those were in four two-legged pre-1997 encounters.

• Barcelona coach Luis Enrique was on the winning Barcelona team in 1997, opening the scoring in the first leg against Dortmund.

Can 1997 victor Luis Enrique win as coach?
Can 1997 victor Luis Enrique win as coach?©Getty Images

• Luis Enrique could become the fourth man to lift the UEFA Super Cup as coach and player after Josep Guardiola, Carlo Ancelotti and Diego Simeone (who between them have triumphed for the last four years).

• Both teams have already picked up continental trophies against fellow Spanish sides. Barcelona's came in a pre-UEFA Cup tournament, the 1966 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, in which they pipped Real Zaragoza 4-3 on aggregate (four years after losing to Valencia).

• Sevilla, meanwhile, followed up their 2006 UEFA Super Cup triumph against Barcelona by beating Espanyol in the 2007 UEFA Cup final. After a 2-2 draw at Hampden Park, Glasgow, Sevilla prevailed 3-1 on penalties.

• Overall Barcelona have won five of their 21 games against Spanish teams in Europe, drawing six and losing ten.

• Sevilla have won six of their 15 European matches with Liga opponents, losing six with three draws.

• Having succumbed to Madrid in the UEFA Super Cup last season, Sevilla played Villarreal in the UEFA Europa League round of 16, winning 2-1 at home and 3-1 away (12 months earlier at the same stage they eliminated neighbours Real Betis).

Team ties

Ivan Rakitić helped Sevilla win the 2013/14 UEFA Europa League
Ivan Rakitić helped Sevilla win the 2013/14 UEFA Europa League©AFP/Getty Images

• Barcelona's squad has a strong ex-Sevilla flavour besides just Dani Alves. Ivan Rakitić, who made the move 12 months ago, spent three years with Sevilla and was named man of the match in the 2014 UEFA Europa League final triumph against Benfica.

Adriano played 218 games for Sevilla between 2005 and 2010, landing two UEFA Cups, one UEFA Super Cup and the 2010 Copa del Rey.

Aleix Vidal switched from Sevilla in June after a sole UEFA Europa League-winning season at the club. However, Vidal will not be able to play for Barcelona until January due to their transfer embargo.

• Sevilla loanee Denis Suárez spent 2013/14 with Barcelona B, playing 36 games, but has never represented the first team at his parent club.

Unai Emery has faced Barcelona on 19 occasions with four different clubs – Almería, Valencia, Spartak Moskva and Sevilla – but has never beaten the Blaugrana, drawing six matches and losing 13.

Messi has scored 22 goals for Barcelona in those 19 games against teams coached by Emery.

• Luis Enrique and Emery have locked horns on four occasions as coaches, and Emery has never beaten his counterpart. Emery suffered two 1-0 defeats when Luis Enrique was in charge of Celta Vigo, and last season lost 5-1 at Barcelona before drawing 2-2 at home.

Summer transfers

Ciro Immobile in his new kit
Ciro Immobile in his new kit©Getty Images

Barcelona
In: Aleix Vidal (Sevilla)*, Arda Turan (Atlético Madrid)*
Out: Xavi Hernández (al-Sadd), Gerard Deulofeu (Everton), Ibrahim Afellay (released, Stoke City FC)

*Not eligible to play until January

Sevilla
In: Gaël Kakuta (Chelsea FC), Michael Krohn-Dehli (RC Celta de Vigo), Yevhen Konoplyanka (FC Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk), Sergio Escudero (Getafe CF), Adil Rami (AC Milan), Steven N'Zonzi (Stoke City FC), Ciro Immobile (Borussia Dortmund), Mariano Ferreira (FC Girondins de Bordeaux)
Out:
Aleix Vidal (FC Barcelona), Stéphane Mbia (Trabzonspor AŞ), Alejandro Arribas (RC Deportivo La Coruña), Iago Aspas (RC Celta de Vigo), Carlos Bacca (AC Milan), Fernando Navarro (RC Deportivo La Coruña), Diogo Figueiras (Genoa CFC, loan), Cicinho (released), Manu del Moral (released), Baba Diawara (released), Mariano Barbosa (released)

Tbilisi 2015

Barcelona's futsal team in the 2013 Tbilisi finals
Barcelona's futsal team in the 2013 Tbilisi finals©Sportsfile

• This is the first UEFA football final to be played in Georgia but Tbilisi did stage the 2013 UEFA Futsal Cup, in which Barcelona as holders finished third.

• For both Barcelona and Sevilla this is their first competitive game in Georgia.

• Sevilla's Grzegorz Krychowiak scored for Poland in their 4-0 UEFA EURO 2016 qualifying round win against Georgia at the Boris Paichadze Dinamo Arena on 14 November.

Spain won 1-0 against Georgia at the UEFA Super Cup venue on 11 September 2012 in FIFA World Cup qualifying. Current Barcelona squad members Iniesta, Sergio Busquets and Jordi Alba started for Spain with Pedro Rodríguez coming off the bench.