If the European Super Cup needed a shot in the arm, last season provided it. After 15 years at the Stade Louis II in Monaco in front of mostly below capacity crowds, UEFA decided to take the Super Cup on a tour of Europe. The chosen cities were those with passionate football fans starved of Champions League participation, or a struggling national team, hence last year’s game in Eden Arena, Prague, this year in Cardiff, and 2015 in Tbilisi, Georgia.
Eminently helped by the fact it was a match between Jose Mourinho’s Chelsea and Pep Guardiola’s Bayern Munich, the compelling 2013 final was the first decided by penalty shoot-out and first German club victory.
This year, we know a 14th Spanish side will lift the trophy, but Super Cup history suggests the result is not a forgone conclusion, with the winner of Europe’s secondary competition more than merely making up the numbers.
Seville finished a respectable fifth in last season’s La Liga, but it was in Europe where they achieved most success, winning a record-equalling third UEFA Cup/Europa League, defeating the perennial bridesmaids Benfica at Juventus Stadium. Not bad for a team that only qualified for the competition after Malaga were banned and Rayo Vallecano were denied a UEFA license.
This summer has seen seven new additions, including the exciting Denis Suarez on loan from Barcelona and the potentially astute signing of Iago Aspas from Liverpool.
That’s the good news. The bad news is that Ivan Rakitic, who turned in a captain’s man of the match performance in the Europa League final, has departed for Barcelona. At least Alberto Monreno’s rumoured £16m move to Liverpool will curiously wait until after Tuesday’s final.
Real Madrid’s entry into the Super Cup needs little introduction. La Decima saw Cristiano Ronaldo return to Portugal victorious, and now it’s Gareth Bale’s turn to return to his home nation for silverware.
Pre-season results are an inescapably tepid form guide but Seville should have no fears. As anticipated, Seville’s pre-season has been a humdrum affair, seeing mostly positive results, while Madrid’s last game saw them set a record for the highest attended “soccer” game in America, breaking the record set at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic final between France and Brazil.
With 109,318 people turning up in Ann Arbor, Michigan to watch their 3-1 defeat to Manchester United, a more modest crowd awaits at the 32,000 capacity Cardiff City Stadium. Included in that number is just over 5,000 seats the de facto home of the Wales national team has added for this game.
The defeat in Michigan was noteworthy for the fact that Madrid were short of Toni Kroos and James Rodriguez, while Ronaldo only appeared off the bench. How Carlo Ancelotti will fit all his Galacticos into one team has been one of the biggest talking points of the summer, and with their first competitive game of the season looming, Tuesday’s game may give us some answers.
Some may scoff at the importance of the European Super Cup, and its prize money would fund Ronaldo’s wages for a meagre two months. But after three friendly losses to United, Roma, and Inter, Ancelotti will be keen to win the Super Cup for the third time in his managerial career.
