They are back to official business, FC Barcelona will kick off their official season this Tuesday at Tbilisi aiming for a 4th trophy in 2015: the UEFA Super Cup.

Barcelona are the second most successful team in the UEFA Super Cup history with four titles, and they can equal Milan’s record of five. Barcelona will take part in the competition for the 9th time, more than any other team. The first three participations were not a success, losing them all on aggregate: 1979 to Nottingham Forest, 1982 to Aston Villa and 1989 to Milan. Barcelona participated in those editions as Cup’s Winners Cup champions and lost to the European Cup champions. But Barça’s luck in the competition was about to change, with the first European Cup conquered in 1992, they went on to win their first UEFA Super Cup trophy. In fact, after losing in the first three participations, they won four of the next three: 1992 against Werder Bremen, 1997 against Borussia Dortmund, 2009 against Shakhtar Donetsk and 2011 against Porto. Between this successful spell, only Sevilla (this year’s opponent) managed to beat Barcelona (2006), inflicting a 3-0 loss, equalling their biggest suffered by the Blaugrana in a UEFA Super Cup match, vs Aston Villa in 1982 after extra-time.

Barcelona took part in the UEFA Super Cup as European Cup/Champions League Champions four times, winning three of them. While they participated as as Cup’s Winners Cup champions also four times, winning only once. Which is a somewhat historic advantage for Barcelona as they are this year’s Champions League winners. Statistically speaking, it only applies to Barcelona, because in general the winner of the European Cup/Champions League went on to win the UEFA Super Cup 21 times and lost 19 times. In Champions League era (since 1992/1993), exactly 50% of the 22 editions of UEFA Super Cup were won by UCL winners.

Spanish teams dominance over the UEFA Super Cup are notable, it will be the another Spanish final in the 40th edition; the 12th trophy that goes to a club from La Liga, an unmatched record, followed by Italian teams (9 trophies). Spain being represented in 19 of the 40 editions, including this year, the 3rd time two Spanish sides face each other after 2006 (Barcelona vs Sevilla) and 2014 (Real Madrid vs Sevilla). Six of the last seven UEFA Super Cup trophies (from 2007 to 2015) went to La Liga teams, the exception being Bayern winning the 2013 edition but they had a Spanish coach (Pep Guardiola).

The 12 goals by Barcelona in the UEFA Super Cup were scored by 12 different players, including Messi and Pedro from the current squad, Luis Enrique the current manager, and Cesc Fabregas who played only 10 minutes. Among the 92 players that represented Barcelona in the competition, Migueli is the one who played most minutes (390), although the players who took part in most editions are Amor, Valdés, Xavi and Messi (three editions each), and the player who played as a substitute in most editions was Busquets (two editions), while Marcos Alonso and Julio Alberto were the only Barça players to get sent off. Worth noting that Messi assisted in the last two UEFA Super Cups Barcelona played: Pedro’s winner in the extra-time against Shakhtar 2009, and Fàbregas against Porto in 2011 after Messi himself scored the opener.

Bojan is the youngest player to feature for Barcelona in the UEFA Super Cup, he was subbed on in the 2009 edition on his 19th birthday, while Alexanko is the oldest (in 1989 at the age of 33). Guillermo Amor is the youngest player to score for Barcelona in the UEFA Super Cup, vs Milan in 1989, 11 days before his 22nd birthday, and Julio Salinas is the oldest (in 1993 at the age of 30).