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By Andreas Vou (@AndreasVou89)

There is rarely a lack of spectacle when FC Barcelona and Sevilla go head-to-head, regardless of the context but this time, with a double at stake for each side, the upcoming Copa del Rey final has all the ingredients to be a thriller.

The teams go into the game on respective highs but with contrasting expectations which provides the foundation for a game that could go down as an all-time classic.

Barça wrapped up the league title last weekend with a final-day win over Granada to pip rivals Real Madrid to top spot. And on Wednesday, as has become customary, Sevilla earned the Europa League title, their third in succession, with a superb second half performance to defeat Liverpool 3-1 in Basel.

The Copa del Rey could not be more finely poised from a neutral perspective; the two sides showed their respective approaches last summer when they met in the European Super Cup final. It was gung-ho from the start, right until the end of extra-time, eventually ending in nine-goal game with Pedro Rodriguez’s strike deciding it in Barça’s favor.

And one expects more of the same this time. Why? Because, for the Catalans, such is the level of expectation from them that anything less than a double would leave a bitter taste in the mouth of a season which they looked nailed on to sweep up everything in their sights up until just a couple of months ago.

Barça are going straight for the jugular in this one, no half-hearted, methodic approach, purely all-out attacking football. 

For Sevilla on the other hand, winning another European title means this season is an outright success, anything more would be a big bonus. So the shackles are off for Unai Emery’s men, and the team can play without any burden, a little bit like they did at Camp Nou earlier in the season where they pushed Barça very close in a narrow 2-1 defeat.

The side plots are no less interesting either.

Emery, after being seen as a somewhat comical figure for his over exuberant actions in the dugout, has gone on to prove his credentials as a top class manager with his exploits as Sevilla boss. With three straight European titles, the Basque boss is now an outside candidate to take over what is likely to be a vacant position with the Spanish national team after the Euros, and defeating Barcelona in the cup final will only strengthen his chances.

Then there is French striker Kevin Gameiro, who has gone from a peripheral figure at the Andalusian club to a hero. The 29-year-old has not always been a mainstay in the first team, but his important strikes over the years have earned him a place in Sevilla’s history books. After his leveler against Liverpool, his eight in the competition, added to his 16 in La Liga, it is no surprise that Barça themselves are now considering a move for the29-year-old and where better to audition than in front of the potential suitors themselves on Sunday. 

The meeting of the two most successful clubs in Europe over the last ten years, Barça with seven titles and Sevilla with six, is demonstrative of the cold bloodedness of the finalists. Yet with the onus being on the Catalans to secure a double, which has become almost a minimum expectation due to the bar that they themselves have set over the years, combined with Sevilla’s European success which allows them to enter the big game in fine spirits and with less pressure, the stage is poised for an enthralling encounter.