Real Madrid midfielder James Rodriguez. (Photo : Getty Images)
For the third straight year, two Spanish teams will contest the UEFA Super Cup trophy and in this year's edition it will be 2015-2016 Champions League winners Real Madrid and 2015-2016 Europa League champions Sevilla.
The match, which indicates how dominant La Liga teams have been in Europe these past few years, will be held at the Lerkendal Stadion in Trondheim, Norway on Tuesday, August 9. Real and Sevilla are both making their fifth Super Cup appearance while the game will also be a rematch of their 2014 final held in Cardiff, Wales.
Los Blancos won that one, 2-0, with both goals coming from its superstar Cristiano Ronaldo at the 30th and 49th minutes. This time, though, the three-time Ballon d'Or winner will not be around due to a knee injury he suffered in the final of the Euro 2016 between Portugal and France.
SB Nation reported that his other highly-acclaimed teammates, Gareth Bale, Toni Kroos, and Pepe, will also miss the game while French striker Karim Benzema is doubtful to start the match and play the full 90 minutes also because of an injury.
James Rodriguez, Lucas Vazquez, and Alvaro Morata are expected to fill-in the scoring slack for head coach Zinedine Zidane and all three are more than capable of completing such task. With team captain Sergio Ramos, Dani Carvajal, Raphael Varane, and Marcelo manning the backfield, Los Vikingos are still favored to win their second Super Cup title in the last three years.
Meanwhile, Sevilla is confident to match the Bernabéu giants player-for-player in this game as "Madrid are down to the bare bones in terms of personnel", ESPN indicated.
Former Chile national team manager and new head coach Jorge Sampaoli is reportedly set to utilize his two summer signings, strikers Wissam Ben Yedder and Luciano Vietto, against Real which makes the encounter a lot interesting.
Los Rojiblancos has become the first team ever to feature in the Super Cup for three consecutive years after capturing the Europa League crown for three years in a row. They had been Super Cup winners in 2006 by beating powerhouse Barcelona 3-0, but their other three appearances had ended in losses.
Real expectedly has the upperhand even if they are undermanned, but Sevilla could pull off the win in a close match as they had been the fitter team, winning all six of their preseason matches so far.
The predicted result is a 1-0 win for Real Madrid.
Real Madrid starting lineup (4-3-3 formation): Casilla; Carvajal, Ramos, Varane, Marcelo; Casemiro, Isco, Modric; Morata, Vazquez, Rodriguez
Sevilla starting lineup (4-3-3 formation): Soria; Escudero, Kolodziejczak, Carrico, Pareja; Correa, Kranevitter, Iborra; Konoplyanka, Kiyotake, Yedder
