Manchester City are bidding to win the UEFA Super Cup for the first time when they take on Sevilla in Athens.
City have already won two cup finals this year, pipping Manchester United to win the FA Cup and Inter Milan to win the Champions League, and they are strongly expected to complete a treble in this one-off showdown with last season's Europa League winners.
It will not be a piece of silverware high on Pep Guardiola's wish-list, and Saturday night's Premier League showdown against Eddie Howe's excellent Newcastle United will surely be uppermost in his thoughts.
But having beaten Sevilla twice last season and with the Spanish side some way from being the force they were a few years ago, the English champions should be able to deliver.
- Man City to win
- Man City 1-0 correct score
Risk-Free Football Key For City
City have made the ideal start to the season with last Friday's 3-0 win at Burnley, a match in which Erling Haaland hit the ground running with a brace and Guardiola was able to ease new signings Mateo Kovacic and Josko Gvardiol into the set-up.
Kovacic might also be involved in Athens with Kevin de Bruyne picking up an injury at Turf Moor which rules him out for a few games, while Bernardo Silva is unlikely to be involved.
With so many defenders capable of playing anywhere across the pitch it's very hard to predict how Guardiola perms his side, though it is unlikely to be his strongest.
Sevilla are a strange team, insofar as whatever they do domestically has virtually no bearing on how they perform in Europe, where they are prodigious winners. Last season's Europa League triumph was the seventh time they have won that trophy since 2006.
In La Liga last season, Sevilla were poor. After a trio of fourth-place finishes they eventually trailed home in 12th but were dicing with relegation for periods before Jose Luis Mendilibar was drafted in to haul them to safety.
They have started this season badly with a 2-1 home loss to Valencia with centre-back Loic Bade getting himself sent off.
Sevilla To Push City
What is beyond debate is that cup football seems to bring out the best in the Andalucians and they will be hugely competitive at the home of Olympiakos in the Greek capital.
They saw off PSV, Manchester United, Juventus and Roma to win the Europa Cup, though were found out in the Champions League in the previous autumn, by Manchester City among others.
They lost 4-0 at home to City in the group stage of the competition the English side would go on to win, and then 3-1 away.
Guardiola's giants went on to beat Inter Milan in that final and Manchester United in the FA Cup final, the two knockout elements of their historic treble. They beat Inter 1-0, United 2-1, and there's little to suggest this tussle in Greece will be anything other than low-scoring with both sides competitive but ultimately holding something back.
MAN CITY TO WIN 1-0 CORRECT SCORE
