Istanbul's Medipol Başakşehir decided to break the ice before the first leg of UEFA Champions League playoff tie against Sevilla Tuesday by joking about the Spaniards' "love" for Europa League.
A day before the match Başakşehir tweeted a collage of photos showing Sevilla lifting the Europa League cup, Europe's second most prestigious club trophy, asking: "Don't you want to win the Europa League again?"
The Spanish side is a record five-time Europa League winner having won the last three trophies for three consecutive years (2014, 2015 and 2016), which is also a record.
Sevilla did not take long to respond, however, suggesting that it has won enough Europa League trophies.
"Thanks, but we have a lot of them. Better the first one for you," the Spanish side hit back at Başakşehir.
Başakşehir and Sevilla are set to meet Champions League's last qualifying round, which would allow the winner to enter the main part of Europe's most prestigious club tournament, while the loser would be put in the Europa League group stage.
This means that if Sevilla loses it would enter its "favorite" international competition, and would have a chance to compete for yet another title.
Başakşehir was the runner-up of the Turkish Super League last season, which grants them access to compete for Champions League starting from the third qualifying round.
Sevilla took the fourth place in Spanish La Liga's 2016-17 season and starts its Champions League path with a tie against the Turkish side.
In the previous round, Başakşehir, first timers in the Champions League, beat Belgium's Club Brugge 5-3 on aggregate.
Başakşehir will host Sevilla in the first leg of their UEFA Champions League playoff tie Wednesday at 9:45 p.m. local time.
