Sevilla 1-2 Barcelona: Five talking points from the Spanish Supercup 

#4 Despite the defeat, Sevilla impress in Machin's first game in-charge

Sevilla can be a reckoning force once more under Machin

Pablo Machin presided over his first game as the Sevilla manager and despite the defeat, which was kind of expected in the pre-match threads, his side impressed up to a considerable extent and can extract a few positives from the result too.

For starters, the Sevillistas looked the brighter side of the two during the opening exchanges with quick passes and well-worked forward movements. They deservedly went ahead after nine minutes when Sarabia sneakily got behind the defence on the right and sweetly struck from a Luis Muriel cross to sting the Spanish champions with an early blow. And although there was no further goals to come, the Andalusian outfit did threaten with promising attacking spells. Sevilla managed to muster five shots on target in all from 11 efforts at goal.

An impressive return, but the defence too, made sure it isn't all smooth sailing for Barcelona with diligent clearances and close man-marking. The gulf in quality between the two sides eventually showed, but Sevilla pushed their mighty rivals to the wall. That in itself is a good sign.

The Sevilla outfit under Vincenzo Montella was an unpredictable one and blighted by inconsistency. But Machin, who turned newly-promoted Girona side into an interesting outfit last term, is already making an impact with this side. With time and steady progress, Sevilla can get themselves back into the league's top four.