AFC Bournemouth v Sevilla
Saturday 12th August, 8pm local time (7pm UK time)
Pre-season friendly
La Manga Club Football Centre

AFC Bournemouth get their pre-season schedule under way at their La Manga training base in Spain against Sevilla.

Sevilla boast a rich European pedigree and have qualified for the Europa League for the upcoming season, having reached the last eight of the Champions League and defeating Manchester United during their latest campaign.

Last time out

Sevilla 1-0 Alaves

Sevilla finished off a tumultuous La Liga campaign with a narrow home win over mid-table Alaves, with top-scorer Wissam Ben Yedder netting the only goal of the game in the first half.

The match saw Joaquin Caparro finish his four-game stint as caretaker manager following the departure of Vincenzo Montella, who had been in charge for just four months.

With incoming boss Pablo Machin arriving from Girona in late May, Caparro has now moved into a director of football role.

Sevilla XI: Soria (GK), Pareja, Layun, Lenglet, N'Zonzi (Pizarro), Vazquez, Sarabia, Roque Mesa, Nolito (Alonso), Ben Yedder, Ramírez (Muriel)

2017/18 top scorer: Wissam Ben Yedder (22 goals)

Team news

Los Rojiblancos have already made three notable off-season moves with former Swansea City midfielder Roque Mesa joining the club permanently following his loan with the club last season, while money has also been spent on midfielder Ibrahim Amadou from Lille and goalkeeper Tomas Vaclik from Basel.

Players who have been on World Cup duty and won’t play include Simon Kjaer, Luis Muriel and Ever Banega, while France’s Steven Nzonzi remains on duty and could play in Sunday’s final in Moscow. Centre-back Clement Lenglet will also not play after he sealed his £32m move to Barcelona earlier this week.

Manager

After sacking two managers during 2017/18, Machin arrives at the helm ahead of the new season.

With his previous employers Girona, Machin first guided the club to La Liga for the first time in their history before keeping them there with an impressive tenth-place finish last term.

Top stat

With five wins - including three in a row from 2014-16 - Sevilla are the most successful team in the history of the Europa League.