Sixth season in history starting and ending against the same side

FC Barcelona and Sevilla will close the season with yet another final on Sunday, this time in the Copa del Rey (9.30pm CET) at the Vicente Calderon in Madrid.

And it was the same two sides who kicked off the campaign in the European Super Cup in Tbilisi, in what was an epic encounter which ended 5-4 in Barça’s favour after extra-time.

Nine months and eleven days have passed since that game, in which time the sides have met a further two times, resulting in one victory each.

Barça have gone on to win the league title and Sevilla claimed their third straight Europa League success.

This is not the first time that the Catalans end the season against the same they started it. It has occurred on a previous five occasions.

Previous palindromes

The first such time was in 1939/40, against Espanyol which began with a league defeat and ended with being knocked out of the cup. Three such occasions have been against Real Madrid; firstly in 1942/43 which ended in two wins for Los Blancos (3-0 and 11-1).

In 1969/70, Barça again came off second best, drawing in the league and suffering elimination from the Copa del Rey. In 1984/85, the Catalans won 3-0 at the Bernabeu before again being knocked out of the cup quarter-finals.

The best memory from such a season came in 1950/51, when Barça beat Real Sociedad 8-2 to start the season before winning the Copa del Rey against the Basques 3-0.