Europa League holders Sevilla will be hoping that they can improve on their fifth-place finish when they travel to face Malaga in the opening match of the new La Liga campaign.
Malaga European aspirations
Malaga head into the new campaign with aspirations of returning to European football; they almost achieved that last year under new manager Raul Garcia but a poor run into the end to the season saw them finish in a respectable ninth position.
However the exclusion of European football has seen a number of their key players leave the club with the likes of; Juanmi, Samuel, Samu Castillejo, Francisco Portillo and Sergio Sanchez all exiting from the La Rosaleda Stadium.
Despite those significant departures, Garcia has added quality to his attack who only managed 42 league goals last season with Duje Cop, Adnane Tighadouini and Nordin Amrabat been brought into the squad.
Fans won’t be buoyed by last season’s result against their oppositions having beaten 2-0 and 3-2 in their two league clashes.
Heavy expectation on Sevilla
There will be a heap of expectation on the shoulders of Sevilla having won back-to-back Europa League titles, they just missed out on the automatic Champions League places last season finishing fifth behind Valencia.
However, they assured their spot in the group stages of Europe’s elite competition having defeated Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk in last season’s final. That set up one the best fixtures of in the history of the UEFA Super Cup.
Unai Emery’s side found themselves 4-1 behind to Barcelona but managed to fight back level, but an extra-time winner from Pedro secured the victory for the Catalan side.
Like their hosts, Sevilla have made significant additions across their side with Adil Rami, Mariano, Steven N’Zonzi, Michael Krohn-Deli, Ciro Immobile and Yevhen Konoplyanka all been brought in.
There have also been significant exits with Alex Vidal departing to Barcelona and frontman Carlos Bacca who scored 49 goals during his two seasons in Spain has moved to Italy with AC Milan.
Team news
Malaga will be without Brazilian defender Weligton who was sent off in their final match of last season against Sevilla. Flavio Ferreira, Ignacio Camacho and Recio could also miss out through injury.
Grzegorz Krychowiak is expected to miss out after sustaining a broken rib in the Super Cup with Daniel Carrico and Nico Pareja also doubtful, N’Zonzi could make his debut having missed out last week due to a stomach bug.
Malaga will host Sevilla at the La Rosaleda Stadium on Friday, August 21 at 7:30 PM BST.