Playing against the European champions is tough in any situation, but Machin may have unwittingly passed on the secrets to some of his tactics
Real Madrid coach Julen Lopetegui has already got a head start over Sevilla boss Pablo Machin ahead of their clash on Wednesday night.
Lopetegui will hope he knows exactly what he is coming up against at the Ramon Sanchez-Pizjuan as Machin disclosed one of his tactics to his opposite number in a meeting seven months ago.
The former Spain boss was in preparation mode heading into the World Cup and wanted to know how to counter the three-at-the-back system which teams such as eventual semi-finalists Belgium and England would be using at the tournament.