Sevilla vs Man City: four familiar faces to look out for in guide to the opposition

Manchester City begin another Champions League campaign on Tuesday when they travel to Sevilla.

The Blues will be hoping it’s the first of 13 matches in the competition this season, and that they can lift a maiden Champions League crown in June 2023.

Sevilla offer the first test for Pep Guardiola’s men, and are a side who have been a regular in European competitions over the last two decades.

Despite that, their form in the early weeks of the season suggests City might face a slightly less daunting opponent than would usually be expected.

Here’s everything you need about Sevilla ahead of the group-stage opener…

Start to the season

It’s been a slow start to the new campaign for Sevilla, who are yet to win any of their four opening La Liga games.

They began the campaign with a 2-1 loss to Osasuna, and followed that up with a 1-1 draw with Real Valladolid.

But it’s back-to-back defeats for the Andalusians, who lost 2-1 to Almeria and then were beaten 3-0 by Barcelona at home on Saturday.

Former defender Jules Kounde featured in that game, and an inability to replace him and Diego Carlos, who moved to Aston Villa over the summer, are partly to blame for Sevilla’s slow start to the season.

Last season

Sevilla finished fourth in La Liga last season and never dropped out of the Champions League spots all campaign.

They also lost just four league matches in 2021/22, which makes the start to this term such a marked drop in performance.

In Europe, Las Palanganas finished third in a Champions League group containing Lille, RB Salzburg and Wolfsburg, meaning they dropped into the Europa League.

Julen Lopetegui’s men were eliminated by West Ham United in that competition, although they did win the Europa League in 2020.

Familiar faces

Sevilla are still captained by 36-year Jesus Navas, who spent four years as a City player. He’s not the only ex-Blue currently playing at the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan, with Fernado part of the Sevilla squad.

Manchester United left-back Alex Telles is on loan at Sevilla this season, while former Red Devil Adnan Januzaj joined the club last month.

Other one-time Premier League stars include Erik Lamela and Suso, formerly of Liverpool.

Fans of European football should also be familiar with the likes of Ivan Rakitic, Thomas Delaney, Isco and Papu Gomez.

Head-to-head record

The clubs have only met twice before, when they were paired in the Champions League group stage in 2015/16.

On that occasion, City won the home clash 2-1 courtesy of a late Kevin De Bruyne strike, while the Blues came away from Seville with a 3-1 victory as Raheem Sterling, Fernandinho and Wilfried Bony were on target.