Messi named as new captain

TANGIERS, Morocco — Barcelona kick off a new season and a new era when they take on Sevilla in the Spanish Supercup in Morocco on Sunday with Lionel Messi newly installed as club captain.

Messi has occasionally worn the armband before when Andres Iniesta, who replaced Xavi as skipper in 2015, missed a game.

The Argentine has also led his country, with only mixed results.

With Iniesta moving to Japan, Messi takes the job full time starting in Tangiers after Sergi Roberto captained an inexperienced Barca squad during the club’s recent tour of the United States.

Messi can eclipse Iniesta in another way in the Supercup, as both have won a club-record 32 trophies with Barca and victory on Sunday would break the tie.

The match marks a break with tradition. Since its return in 1982, the competition has been played over two legs with each team hosting one game.

This season, with Sevilla in the Europa League and Barcelona keen to play in the lucrative International Champions Cup exhibition tournament in the United States, the Spanish football authorities switched to a single-game format.

They also moved the match across this Straits of Gibraltar to Morocco, where Spanish football is keenly followed.

Sevilla, who therefore lost an attractive home game against one of Europe’s most glamorous teams, protested to no avail.

This week the Spanish football authorities made another ruling that helped Barcelona, announcing that the normal restrictions on non-EU players in Spanish games would not apply.