UEFA Super Cup – Shorthanded Real vs Surging Sevilla
Real Madrid (-110) vs Sevilla (+330), Draw (+273); handicap: Real Madrid -0.5
Two Spanish heavyweights will collide at Lerkendal Stadium in Trondheim, Norway, tomorrow (2:45 PM Eastern) when reigning Champions League victors Real Madrid face the Europa League champs from Sevilla in the annual UEFA Super Cup.
It’s a bit disingenuous to even call the team that will take the pitch “Real Madrid,” though. The squad isn’t taking the Super Cup match too seriously and will rest the bulk of its best players, including Cristiano Ronaldo (due to the injury suffered at the Euro 2016 final), goalkeeper Keylor Navas (who’s recovering from a foot injury), and Pepe (who’s on vacation), along with Gareth Bale and Toni Kroos (both of whom just recently started training).
Real still looked quite strong during the International Champions Cup, however, winning two of their three matches, including a 3-2 win against Chelsea and 1-0 win over Bayern Munich. They fell 3-1 to PSG in the third.
No one is going to give too much credence to preseason results, but Sevilla fans have to like what they’ve seen so far. The team has won six straight and seems to be adapting well to new coach Jorge Sampaoli. That said, the level of competition hasn’t been all that high. Last time out, they easily dispatched of Argentinian side River Plate (3-1). That came on the heels of a pair of 2-1 wins over Santa Fe (Colombia) and Sandhausen (Germany).
Sevilla, who have now won the Europa League three straight years, haven’t had much luck in these Super Cup matches recently. They fell in a frantic 5-4 affair to Barcelona last year and lost 2-0 to Real Madrid the year before that. They’ve also dropped three of the last four to Real Madrid, including a 4-0 rout the last time they met, earlier in 2016.
But while the historical trends favor Real Madrid, current form lies with Sevilla. Given that Real is going to be resting many of their key players, this looks like a great time to jump on Sevilla (+0.5). The high-scoring squad should be able to muster at least a draw as they look to carry their fine preseason form into the games that actually matter.
Pick: Sevilla (+0.5)
(Photo Credit: Jan S0L0 (Flickr) [https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/])
Zack is a tour guide whose favorite sports are football, baseball, and golf. He enjoys giving obnoxious commentary during games and hopes to some day write a book about sports. His favorite underdog victory was the Diamondbacks beating the Yankees in game 7 of the World Series.
