Sevilla goalkeeper Sergio Rico. (Photo : Getty Images)
Reigning UEFA Europa League titlists Sevilla FC will open their 2016-2017 La Liga campaign on Saturday, August 20 against last season's 13th place domestic finishers RCD Espanyol at their home ground of Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán Stadium in Andalusia.
After a successful preseason where they won all five of their club friendlies, Sevilla succumbed to back-to-back defeats to Real Madrid and FC Barcelona in the UEFA Super Cup and the first leg of the Supercopa de España respectively.
Their most recent game was the 0-2 blanking they suffered in the hands of the Catalan giants in the Spanish Super Cup on Sunday, as per SkySports, and Los Rojiblancos will have to face them again for the second leg of the series this Wednesday before opening La Liga against Espanyol on Saturday.
Sevilla is now led by new head coach Jorge Sampaoli, who came from his managerial stint with the Chile national team that won last summer's Copa America. He was also 2015 South American Coach of the Year awardee.
The Argentine mentor replaced Unai Emery in June after the Spanish manager moved to Ligue 1 champions Paris Saint-Germain to succeed Laurent Blanc.
Sevilla will feature some new acquisitions this season, namely midfielders Hiroshi Kiyotake, Matías Kranevitter, Franco Vazquez, and Pablo Sarabia from Hannover, Atletico Madrid, Palermo, and Getafe respectively and forwards Wissam Ben Yedder and Luciano Vietto from Toulouse and Atletico Madrid as well.
Meanwhile, Espanyol also had a fruitful preseason after remaining unbeaten in all five of their friendly matches, including a 2-2 draw with Italian Serie A champions Juventus at the Stadio Alberto Braglia last Saturday, Goal reported.
Los Periquitos was able to level with the Old Lady during the highly-anticipated debut of their newly-signed striker Gonzalo Higuaín, which they held to a scoreless performance.
Head coach Quique Sánchez Flores came over from English Premier League side Watford to take over the club's reins this season, replacing Constantin Gâlcă last June.
Some of the new players for Espanyol this term are defender Martín Demichelis from Manchester City, midfielders José Manuel Jurado, Javi Fuego, Pablo Piatti, and Jose Antonio Reyes from Watford, Valencia, and Sevilla, and forward Leo Baptistao from Atletico Madrid.
The predicted result is a 3-1 romp for Sevilla.
Sevilla starting lineup (4-1-4-1 formation): Rico; Mariano, Rami, Mercado, Escudero; Kranevitter; Vitolo, Kiyotake, Vazquez, N'Zonzi; Vietto
Espanyol starting lineup (4-3-3 formation): Jimenez; Gonzalez, O. Duarte, Lopez, R. Duarte; Diop, Reyes, Jurado; Baptistao, Piatti, Perez
