Barcelona midfielder Ivan Rakitic will have mixed feelings when he faces former club Sevilla in Tuesday's European Super Cup.
Rakitic became a firm fans' favourite during his three-and a half years at Sevilla, captaining the side to victory in the 2014 Europa League, and settling so well that he married a local Andalusian girl in the city's famous cathedral.
The 27-year-old left to join Barca last summer, and ended his first season at the Camp Nou as a Treble winner including scoring in the Champions League final win over Juventus.
The Croatia international told Sevilla's club radio that he did not particularly enjoy playing against his former teammates, however he would still give everything for Barcelona to win another title.
"I have said before that I do not like playing against Sevilla," Rakitic said. "Because as a sevillista I want them to win, and as a professional I want to win a trophy too. It will be a very special game, very lovely, I really want to play the Super Cup as last year I could not play with Sevilla."
This summer has again seen upheaval at the Estadio Sanchez Pizjuan, with May's Europa League final hero Carlos Bacca and new Barca signing Aleix Vidal among the players to leave, while Yevhen Konoplyanka, Ciro Immobile, Gael Kakuta and Steven N'Zonzi have arrived.
Rakitic said he was sure Sevilla coach Unai Emery would again be able to blend together a very competitive team.
"I see that again many pieces have changed and that they have done it well again," he said. "We must play a perfect game to beat Sevilla, because I know how Emery and his technical team work."
The travel involved in flying to Tbilisi is not ideal, especially with Barca having to quickly refocus afterwards on their Spanish Supercopa clashes with Athletic Bilbao -- played Friday, Aug. 14 at San Mames, and Monday, Aug. 17 at the Camp Nou.
"There is a change in time zones and everything," Rakitic said. "We cannot change the venue, although for sure the two clubs would have done it differently. But it is a trophy to play for."
One player unlikely to be making the journey to the Georgian capital this week is Barca left-back Jordi Alba, who picked up an apparent thigh muscle strain in Wednesday's 3-0 Gamper Trophy win over Roma.
Alba is also a doubt for Barca's La Liga opener on Aug. 23 at Athletic, according to a Blaugrana club statement -- as the clubs face each other three times in the space of nine days.
"Jordi Alba will be out between 10 and 15 days after suffering an injury to his right leg in the 75th minute of Barca's 3-0 victory over AS Roma," the statement read.
"Alba had to be replaced by Alen Halilovic, who played the final minutes of the Joan Gamper Trophy. Alba had entered the field at half-time in place of Thomas Vermaelen and was on the pitch for 30 minutes before requesting a substitute. Prior to leaving the game, Alba had played well and just missed scoring a goal."