BARCELONA // It has been less than five weeks since Spain won the World Cup and many of their players are not expected to begin their competitive season tonight when Barcelona travel to Sevilla for the Spanish Super Cup first leg.
The game between Spain's league champions and the Copa del Rey winners is taken seriously and Barca were proud to count their 2009 success as one of the unprecedented six trophies lifted that year, yet Pep Guardiola, their coach, is likely to rest all of his Spanish internationals in Seville. The Catalan has not been impressed by a schedule which saw many of his internationals report this week for Spain duty before they had returned to their club.
Carles Puyol, Sergio Busquets, Victor Valdes, Xavi, Gerard Pique and Pedro all featured in Spain's 1-1 away draw against Mexico on Wednesday in front of giant 100,000 Azteca crowd. David Villa also crossed the Atlantic, but did not play due to sickness. The only Barca absentee was Andres Iniesta, the World Cup final goalscorer was given an extra week off following his exploits in South Africa. Barca's World Cup winners are all being given extra training to catch up with the players who started pre-season in mid-July. Their absence in Seville will give a chance to Adriano, 25, the new Barca signing who is set to make his competitive debut against his former club in the Sanchez Pizjuan.
The versatile and two-footed Brazilian has featured in all of Barca's pre-season games, playing both right-back and left-back. Alongside Barca's other former Sevilla players, Dani Alves and Seydou Keita, he is relishing the return. "I was delighted with my five years at Sevilla and I'm excited about going back," Adriano told reporters. "So far this pre-season I've played two matches at right-back, in the position usually occupied by Alves, and one at left-back. But Guardiola hasn't specifically told me where I must play. I'm at his disposal."
"We're ready for this season. We knew that the players who took part in the World Cup wouldn't come back until now and whatever the manager chooses will be OK. Whoever plays, we'll go for it 100 per cent." Adriano was part of the Sevilla team which knocked holders Barca out of the Copa del Rey last season and does not expect his former teammates to hold back, despite them having a key Champions League qualifier next week against Portuguese side Braga, who eliminated Scottish side Celtic last month.
"I don't think Sevilla will hold anybody in reserve," he said. "They're focused on the match against Barca because it's a final, a chance of a title. I'm sure Antonio Alvarez [the new Sevilla coach] will play his strongest team." Alvarez , who played 300 games for the club up to 1988 and was the assistant manager between 2000 and 2008 before a two-year stint as their sporting director, took over from Manolo Jimenez in March. He presides over a largely unchanged squad from last season, with Adriano replaced by Mouhamadou Dabo, the French international, from Saint Etienne.
"We do not fear Barcelona, we have a lot of respect for them but no fear," said Alvarez, who has to deal with speculation linking Sevilla's Brazilian striker Luis Fabiano with a ?15 million (Dh72.75m) move to Marseille, the French side. "I am concerned, but I am not going to lose any sleep over it," Alvarez added. "We are talking about an exceptional player but if the deal is profitable for the club ... there's nothing you can do. If Luis Fabiano leaves then we'll have to bring in a player who can guarantee success, who knows Spanish soccer and who is a proven goalscorer."
He will want the Brazilian against a weakened Barca, but is aware he may have left the club before the second leg next Saturday. sports@thenational.ae
