Barcelona v Sevilla preview: Spanish Super Cup second leg live on Sky Sports
Thursday 18 August 2016 08:23, UK
Barcelona head coach Luis Enrique has urged his players to attack Sevilla in order to clinch the Spanish Super Cup on Wednesday.
Barca go into their home leg, which will be live on Sky Sports 1 HD from 10pm, in a commanding position after second-half goals from Luis Suarez and Munir El Haddadi gave them a 2-0 victory in the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan on Sunday.
But in the return match at the Nou Camp, the hosts will not be sitting back on their lead.
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Speaking at a press conference, Enrique said: "We plan for the game the same as ever. The idea is to win, be better than Sevilla and to do that by playing better football.
"As far as motivation is concerned, there's nothing for me to say because the players know very well that after 90 minutes of play tomorrow we can win a title.
"Things could get difficult at any time. Although our opposition are two goals down, it's a difference that they can make up so we need to make sure they don't. We should hit Sevilla first and try to generate more goalscoring chances and try to win the game."
The hosts will be without captain Andres Iniesta (knee) and French defender Jeremy Mathieu (hamstring) after they were forced off in the first game, although Enrique would not reveal how long either player is expected to be absent for.
But Claudio Bravo - whom Sky sources understand Manchester City are keen to sign for a fee of £17m - is in the squad.
Barcelona centre-back Javier Mascherano feels lifting the trophy will set the club up for another successful season.
The Argentina international said: "Logically we're feeling quite tired after such an intense game in Seville but we are looking forward to it. We are looking forward to playing a good game, getting a good result that will win us the Super Cup title, the first title of the season.
"We just need to play as well as we did in Seville. The idea is to win the Super Cup which will put us on a great footing for the league."
Sevilla boss Jorge Sampaoli plans to rotate his squad in order to ensure his first-team players are ready for their La Liga opener against Espanyol on Saturday.
The Andalusian side played extra-time in the European Super Cup defeat to Real Madrid last week and now face their second game against Barca in the space of four days.
Defenders Sergio Escudero and Adil Rami both miss out through injury, while Daniel Carrico, Benoit Tremoulinas and Michael Krohn-Dehli are also absent.
Sampaoli has named youth players Diego Gonzalez, Jose Antonio Caro, David Carmona and Alex Munoz in his squad.
"The idea is to modify some things, knowing that we play another game in three days," Sampaoli said at his pre-match press conference.
"The 120 minutes against Madrid and the intensity of the match against Barcelona was traumatic and knowing we play another game in three days, we need to change some players to get fresh players for Saturday.
"We have a lot of injuries."
