[JaredL]

Super Cup final is played today. In last year's version Sevilla crushed Barcelona 3-0. This year everything is overshadowed by the tragic death of Antonio Puerta. This will be the first match for Sevilla since Puerta died.

Any sort of prediction is difficult for this. AC Milan are certainly the more experienced side, but Sevilla don't match up too poorly and could give them serious problems especially if Alves plays. The real question mark is the motivation and preparedness of Sevilla. They will be super motivated "playing with 12 men" as they say but the events of this last week have to be draining and have taken away from their prep time.

There is also the much less significant issue of Alves who has clearly stated that he wants to go and is angry about staying. That has cooled obviously with the Puerta situation but it's still lurking in the background. The deadline is tonight at midnight so we'll see what happens there. He traveled with the team and they say that he may play. He does not lose any eligibility because the intertoto and Super Cup are exempt. Last time there was talk about him maybe playing he did play against Real Madrid in the second leg of the Spanish Super Cup and played well.

Match is on FSC, kickoff at 2:45 but it would be well worth watching the pregame I'm sure as there will be emotional displays from both teams and fans.