The first European competition of the season begins with the UEFA Champions League and treble winners Barcelona taking on back-to-back UEFA Europa League champions Sevilla in the UEFA Super Cup in Tbilisi, Georgia.
This is indeed the first proper test of the new season, as pressure is on the Catalan club to win the sextuple, or six titles in a calendar year, by winning this and then participating in the Spanish SuperCopa and then FIFA Club World Cup in Japan later in December, representing Europe.
Form (Barca)
These two sides got here by winning their seperate European tournaments. However, it's been quiet a preseason for both the European and Europa champions. In terms of what the Blaugrana did, they've made a few transfers over the summer.
Players such as Xavi and Martin Montoya went to Al Sadd and Inter Milan, whilst players such as Aleix Vidal from the rivals that they will be playing tomorrow and Arda Turan from Atletico Madrid. However, due to their transfer embargo, the midfielders will not play until January.
Their pre=season saw them go to the United States to participate in the International Champions Cup and it was average in part due to stars Lionel Messi, Neymar, Javier Mascherano and Claudio Bravo not playing because they were participating in the Copa America in Chile.
A win, loss and draw happened against LA Galaxy, Manchester United and Chelsea respectively, then they went back to Europe and played a 2-1 loss against Fiorentina before their last match, with their stars back, a 3-0 win against Roma in the Joan Gamper Trophy.
Form (Sevilla)
As for the side from Seville, 10 players have left the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan since the Europa League final in Warsaw almost three months ago, including three members of the starting line-up, which included Carlos Bacca, scorer of 49 goals in two seasons at the club, none of them ironically against Barcelona, went to AC Milan.
Their pre-season ended with three losses and two wins before this match in Georgia as Umai Emery's side will now compete in Champions League for the first time since 2010.
Referee
The referee for this match will be Willie Collum from Scotland. The 36-year-old officiated six UEFA Champions League matches last season, including the quarter-final second leg between AS Monaco and Juventus, as well as three UEFA EURO 2016 qualifiers.
Team News/Pre-Match Comments
Barcelona play Sevilla with record-equalling fifth Super Cup in their sights, the same record held by AC Milan. The last they won the Super Cup was in 2011 against Porto in a 2-0 victory in Monaco. Sevilla will look for their second Super Cup having played three previous ones. They played last year against the Blaugrana's bitter rivals Real Madrid in a 2-0 loss in Cardiff, while the last time these two played each other was a 3-0 trashing for the Europa League champions and their maiden title in 2006.
Neymar is out for two weeks having been diagnosed with mumps, while Jordi Alba is out due to a hamstring injury. For Sevilla, Daniel Carriço (leg muscle), Nicolas Pareja (cruciate ligament), and Steven N'Zonzi (gastroenteritis) are all out.
Barcelona manager Luis Enrique has stated that this match will be tough and have to ''show that on the pitch we are better as it's always difficult to beat them'', following that ''it's exciting to be playing in the Super Cup; we know we have to play well in order to win.''
His counterpart Umai Emery also said that his side ''need to be able to attack and profit from any weak moments or lack of cohesion in their game.'', also stating a con in which ''the injuries will have an impact but overall you will see what Barcelona can do and you will see what Sevilla can do. We may not be 100% but we'll be close.''
Predicted Starting XI:
Barcelona: Ter Stegen; Alves, Piqué, Mascherano, Mathieu; Rakitić, Busquets, Iniesta; Messi, Suárez, Pedro.
Sevilla: Rico; Mariano, Coke, Krychowiak, Trémoulinas; Krohn-Dehli, Banega; Reyes, Iborra, Vitolo; Gameiro.