The UEFA Super Cup always comes around sooner than expected and acts as the traditional curtain-raiser for European football each season.
The match is contested each year by the previous campaign's Champions League and Europa League winners and is one of the earliest ways to see if a team has built on its success or allowed standards to slip.
This year, Manchester City and Sevilla are the two teams facing off at the Stadio Georgios Karaiskakis in Piraeus, Greece. City are playing in the Super Cup for the first time, while Sevilla have won the Europa League seven times and seen it all before.
Here's the complete head-to-head record of Manchester City and Sevilla and how well each team has traditionally fared against sides from the other's countries.
Manchester City and Sevilla's complete head-to-head record
There have only been four matches played between City and Sevilla, although that may not be a huge shock given neither side have been considered traditional European powerhouses.
All four of the matches between the two sides have come in the group stages of the Champions League and two came last season, meaning their journey to the 2023 Super Cup began together.
It's very much advantage City in the head-to-head record. The first games were in the 2015/16 season with the Premier League side winning 2-1 at home and 3-1 away. That group also contained Juventus and Borussia Monchengladbach and Sevilla were put into the Europa League after finishing third. Man City topped the group.
Obviously, Sevilla went on to win Europe's silver prize against Liverpool.
The clashes in the 2022/23 group stage also ended in victory for City as Sevilla started the season horrifically. Man City won 4-0 in Spain and then won 3-1 at the Etihad, eventually topping the group.
Again, Sevilla finished third and won the Europa League.
Manchester City's record against Spanish teams
Thanks to their consistent involvement in the Champions League over the last decade or so, Man City have racked up plenty of matches against Spanish opposition. There are the four games already played against Sevilla, but altogether they have faced eight Spanish sides.
They are Sevilla, Real Madrid, Villarreal, Atletico Madrid, Barcelona, Athletic Club, Racing and Valencia. The team that they have faced the most is Real Madrid, having gone against Los Blancos on ten different occasions.
The matches are not entirely limited to the Champions League, with games against Athletic Club coming in the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup in the 1969/70 season, the Racing clash being in the UEFA Cup in 2008/09, and two outings against Valencia in the UEFA Cup in 1972/73.
The most recent success for Man City against a Spanish side came in the 2022/23 Champions League semi-finals as they strolled past Real Madrid, particularly in the second leg where they won 4-0 at the Etihad. Their hardest Spanish opponent has been Barcelona, with their six games returning five defeats and just one victory.
Sevilla's record against English teams
Sevilla have played an impressive number of English teams over the years, which is a testament to their constant involvement in European competition as well as the number of English sides that have reached the knockout stages over the past decade.
11 different English teams have had to face up against Sevilla over the years and Manchester United fans won't be surprised to hear no side from England has faced Sevilla more. The Spaniards have played some more niche English sides too, with the full list being Man Utd, Arsenal, Liverpool, Tottenham, West Ham, Wolves, Middlesbrough, Leicester, Man City, Bolton and Chelsea.
The team they have struggled against the most is Man City, losing all four games. They have 100% records against Wolves and Middlesbrough from one game apiece, but Man Utd are the team they really have the beating of, having won three and drawn two of their five matches.
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This article was originally published on 90min as Manchester City vs Sevilla: Complete head-to-head record.
