Man City know Champions League rivals will be watching in Super Cup

Build on the reputation

Manchester City’s tag as favourites means they have more to lose than to gain from this fixture.

Even before you get to the consequences of playing two games in close succession, their status as Champions League winners means that they will be expected to come out on top in this game. Sevilla may be masters of the Europa League, yet it is still only the secondary UEFA competition that they won.

Victory for City in Greece will be celebrated by the club as a new piece of silverware, and will build on the aura that they created last season in Europe by dispatching Bayern Munich, thrashing Real Madrid, and then getting over the line against Inter Milan. All of those teams and more will be watching keenly to see if the Blues still are the team to beat, and defeat to Sevilla would give their rivals hope of a chink in City armour that wasn’t there last season.

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Longer stay

City may be jetting back to Manchester on Thursday but a four-hour flight meant that the Blues arrived a day earlier than they normally would, arriving on Monday.

After a few weeks off in summer, these trips help the squad build back together and it was notable that Ruben Dias travelled despite being unavailable for the match owing to concussion.

Phillips minutes

Kalvin Phillips has made it clear he intends to stay at City this season but that stance may well begin to change if he misses out for a third game in a row. The former Leeds man knows how tough it will be to displace Rodri but watching not just Mateo Kovacic but also James McAtee and Cole Palmer come on against Burnley warned that he could have dropped further down the pecking order.

If Phillips