When tickets went on sale for Tuesday’s European Super Cup final in Tbilisi between Barcelona and Sevilla, there were so many requests that the website crashed and could not process orders for four days.
The prices, starting at just €7 (Dh28), no doubt played a part in that, and the Georgian hosts knew of the potential appeal when they pushed to host the game at the 54,549-seater Dinamo Stadium.
But they had little idea who the competing sides might be when they won the right to stage the game. The presence of European champions Barcelona prompted a huge surge in demand for a game the Catalans are taking seriously.
Their compatriots in Sevilla won the Europa League for a second straight season in May, but they lost last season’s Super Cup to Real Madrid in Cardiff.
Their Europa success has guaranteed European competition again this season, with Sevilla the first recipients of a reward that sees the previous season’s Europa League winners earn a place in the group stages of the Uefa Champions League. They will be one of a record five teams from one country if Valencia can win their two-leg play-off against Monaco.
Sevilla finished fifth in the Primera Liga last season, but they lost 5-1 at Camp Nou in November before holding the treble winners 2-2 in their home league game in April.
Sevilla coach Unai Emery, 43, knows what awaits all too well. Not one of the Spaniard's sides have managed to beat Barca in 19 previous attempts. Lionel Messi has scored 22 times in those encounters.
“Barcelona are the favourites, but we will go there with the dream that we can surprise,” Emery said. “We have to deal with whatever disadvantages we have. We have to find a way to reduce the difference between Barcelona and Sevilla. And when we find those routes, we have to use them.
“We’ve had some excellent players here – Luis Fabiano, Frederic Kanoute, Christian Poulsen, Daniel Alves – the team is always being rebuilt with players following the same path as those that leave.
“We want to continue improving and growing despite the difficulties we face and any necessary squad rebuilding.”
Alves was man of the match in the Sevilla side who won the Super Cup in 2006, beating Barcelona 3-0 in Monaco, the principality long used as a venue for the final before Uefa decided to showcase it around Europe. The Brazilian hopes to equal Paolo Maldini’s record of four wins from five Super Cup finals.
Aside from the absence of Neymar, who is expected to be out for two weeks with mumps and is likely to be replaced by Pedro, who wants to leave, Barca are at full strength. It is their ninth Super Cup final, a record, and they aim to match AC Milan's record of five wins.
Barca lost their first three finals but won after each of their 2009 and 2011 European Cup victories. Their players are determined to match the side of 2009, which won six trophies in a calendar year. Tonight, if they win, would be their fourth, adding to the Spanish league and cup titles and the Champions League crown.
Both teams will take less than 1,000 travelling supporters on the four-hour flight to Tbilisi, with Georgians making up the majority of the crowd. Thirty-four years ago, they would have seen their own Dinamo Tbilisi, who usually play games in this venue, play in the Super Cup final after they won the European Cup Winners’ Cup, but they could not agree a date with European Cup winners Liverpool, whom they had beaten 3-0 in Tbilisi two years earlier.
While standards of Georgian football have dropped from the halcyon days when Dinamo were one of the strongest teams of the former Soviet Union – the Georgian league is ranked 31st in Europe – the prestige of the Super Cup final has since risen.
On Tuesday, they hope it justifies the enormous expectations.
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