LaLiga's Summer Tour has arrived in San Francisco, where fans at Oracle Park on Saturday night will be treated to a classic clash from the Spanish top flight.
Sevilla Futbol Club and Atletico de Madrid will end their respective preseason schedules with this head-to-head matchup at the home of Major League Baseball's San Francisco Giants. Both coaches on Friday acknowledged the challenge of playing on a converted baseball field, but the friendly should be a good measuring stick for both squads before the new season.
Fans in the United States can catch the game on ESPN2, ESPN+, and on the ESPN App.
Sevilla FC-Atletico de Madrid, LaLiga EA Sports Summer Tour from Oracle Park in San Francisco, California:
Update narrationThe LaLiga EA Sports Summer Tour has seen four of the competition's elite teams - Sevilla, Atletico Madrid, Real Betis, and Real Sociedad - gain valuable exposure to North American audiences through friendlies in Monterrey and San Francisco.
The Tour is winding down as the 2023/24 league season begins next weekend, and Atletico's showdown with Sevilla will be the final friendly of the summer series before the clubs return to Spain.
A well-traveled Atletico
In the past two weeks, Atletico Madrid have played two friendlies in South Korea, another one at Estadio BBVA in Mexico, and now this one in San Francisco. Atletico will conclude preseason having faced three fellow UEFA Champions League participants, including treble winners Manchester City and domestic opponents Real Sociedad and Sevilla.
"We have played more than we've trained, but the preseason is going well," head coach Diego Simeone said Friday.
Player movement in and out of Simeone's Atleti is still expected in the final month of the transfer window. Although the club now expects key winger Yannick Carrasco to stay, Joao Felix still looks to be on his way out as Los Rojiblancos hope to add another central midfielder to Simeone's squad.
Sevilla hoping to build off another Europa League triumph
Despite finishing the 2022/23 season in 12th place, Sevilla will play in the Champions League this season by virtue of claiming yet another UEFA Europa League title in May.
This has been a busy preseason for Sevilla, with head coach Jose Luis Mendilibar aiming to prepare his players to hit the ground running. Saturday's friendly against Atletico will be the seventh of Sevilla's summer, and Los Nervionenses have won four of the previous six. Their league campaign begins next Friday at the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan against Valencia before the UEFA Super Cup clash with Manchester City in Greece on Aug. 16.
"Did the match against Betis (in Mexico) give you something special? Well, this match is the same," Mendilibar said Friday about the Atletico challenge.
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