Spanish Super Cup: Barcelona, Sevilla Hunting Momentum in the Cup That Deceives
Vicente Iborra put it neatly.
"It would be a very special moment," the new Sevilla captain told Marca, when asked ahead of the UEFA Super Cup what it would mean to lift the trophy. "It would be a moment to remember all the people who got us here."
Those who got us here?
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Typically when you reach a final, there's no need to thank such figures. The reason why you're here is because you got yourself here.
But these particular affairs are often different in this respect.
On Sunday, Sevilla meet Barcelona at the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan to kick-off the two-legged Spanish Super Cup in what is the club's second chance to grab silverware this month after contesting the European equivalent against Real Madrid on August 9.
Under new boss Jorge Sampaoli, the Andalusians are looking for early momentum, aiming to build on last season's platform that earned them a berth in this fixture. Theoretically, it's a carryover they'd be after here.
And yet, in this case, there's nothing to carry over.
The team that got Sevilla here was former manager Unai Emery's, but Emery is now at Paris Saint-Germain and the squad upheaval this summer has been extensive. Ten players have left, key figures such as Grzegorz Krychowiak, Kevin Gameiro, Ever Banega and Coke among them; replacing them, nine new faces have come in—exciting ones, yes, but players who need time to settle and gel.
This had been Iborra's point. The Sevilla that will face Barcelona is not the Sevilla that earned the right to face Barcelona. But it's not just them: The Barcelona they'll face is also a little different from the Barcelona that got here.
Together, then, these teams illustrate the somewhat hollow nature of Super Cups. Trophies are on the line and that matters, but these contests are limited as indicators. Deceptive in recent years, the Spanish version of the concept has become an example.
Six years have now passed since victors in the Spanish Super Cup have gone on to claim that season's league title or simply excel more generally.
On that occasion, it was Pep Guardiola's Barcelona that stormed to La Liga's crown following a come-from-behind, 5-3 aggregate victory—over Sevilla, funnily enough—in the domestic season's curtain-raiser in August 2010.
The Catalans won the Supercopa the following year too, but in the process kick-started a run that has rejected any notion of momentum in this trophy.
Indeed, that season, the 2011-12 one, Barcelona fell well short of Real Madrid in the league and were knocked out of the Champions League by a limited Chelsea. The following year, Real's capture of the Super Cup preceded the implosion of Jose Mourinho's tenure at the Santiago Bernabeu. The year after that, Barcelona's narrow Supercopa triumph over Atletico Madrid was followed by the Catalans' stale 2013-14 campaign. Next up was Atletico, who clinched the Super Cup in 2014 before putting together the least impressive season of their last three under Diego Simeone.
Last year's winners: Athletic Bilbao, who followed their 31-year-trophy-drought-ending victory with four losses in their opening five league games.
Was is it about this trophy?
| 2015-16 | Athletic Bilbao | Barcelona |
| 2014-15 | Atletico Madrid | Barcelona |
| 2013-14 | Barcelona | Atletico Madrid |
| 2012-13 | Real Madrid | Barcelona |
| 2011-12 | Barcelona | Real Madrid |
The obvious quirk in Super Cups is that one's participation is a reward for achievements of the previous season. That in itself creates a disconnect.
As seasons change, so do circumstances: squad composition, managers, form, fitness, player-coach relationships, internal dynamics, summer preparation, one's tactical approach and countless other things.
Like all Super Cups, then, the Spanish version is always susceptible to taking on an isolated existence. Suspended in a sort of no-man's land, it becomes detached from both the environment that led to it and the one that will follow, its teams not the exact ones who got here nor necessarily the ones they'll become after it.
That's particularly true for Sevilla.
In addition to the departures of Krychowiak, Gameiro, Banega and Coke, the Europa League champions have waved goodbye to Jose Antonio Reyes, Fernando Llorente, Ciro Immobile, Diogo Figueiras, Luismi and Beto. This, of course, is what Sevilla do. "We're used to seeing team mates coming and going. Despite all of that we always maintain our identity," Iborra said on Monday, per Alvaro de la Rosa of AS. But this time the restructuring goes beyond personnel.
In Sampaoli, the club has appointed one of the world's most attack-minded coaches. His teams are about pressing, energy and seizing the initiative, his entire approach set on the other end of the spectrum to his predecessor's.
Thus, a completely different mould of a player has been necessary this summer: versatile and adaptable, more technical and less in the way of straight-line power.
On that basis, Franco Vazquez, Joaquin Correa, Ganso, Wissam Ben Yedder, Hiroshi Kiyotake, Gabriel Mercado, Pablo Sarabia have come in on permanent deals. Luciano Vietto and Matias Kranevitter have arrived from Atletico on loan.
Vazquez in particular stood out against Real Madrid in the UEFA Super Cup, and this is a team that strikes as one with potential, as an outfit with a point of difference. But more than anything, Sevilla are a work in progress.
"Our idea of how we should play is still wearing nappies," said Sampaoli during pre-season. Iborra called the switch from Emery to the Argentinian "radical," and he's right. This process will require time as Tuesday's loss to Madrid showed; though Sevilla aren't who they were before, they're not yet who they'll soon be, either.
It's why the looming Spanish Super Cup won't be an indicator of momentum for the Andalusians. It's too early. Their encompassing idea is still too young.
To a lesser extent, some of the same themes are evident for Barcelona, too.
Though Luis Enrique now has more options at his disposal than ever before, the Barcelona manager does have issues to work through in several areas.
At right-back, he needs to fill a rather massive, Dani Alves-shaped hole. Sergi Roberto and Aleix Vidal are the candidates to do so, but it won't be straightforward. Alves' invention and incision won't be replicated by either; Roberto is more advanced technically than Vidal, while Vidal has the edge athletically.
In the centre of the defence, Enrique also needs to pick his moments to work new signing Samuel Umtiti into the team, while in midfield, he'll hope the integration of Andre Gomes and Denis Suarez will be smoother than it's been for Arda Turan.
What's more, there's a decision to make in goal, and Enrique also faces a demand to better rotate his glittering front three in the looming season.
Admittedly, these are peripheral matters around a first XI that's largely settled, and they look minor in comparison to those being worked through by Sevilla. But still, Enrique's management in such areas will shape Barcelona's season to a degree, tweaking the team, altering its dynamic only slightly but enough to still be significant.
And that reinforces the Spanish Super Cup's isolated existence: Like Sevilla, Barcelona aren't exactly what they were last season, but nor are they exactly what they'll be in six-to-nine months' time.
On Sunday the two teams meet. On Wednesday they'll do so again. As ever, there's a trophy on the line and that matters, but it's unlikely to be an indicator of anything more.
.jpg?w=480 "Browns Football")
