Two months ago, Sevilla travelled to Austria for their final Champions League group game. After taking three points from their first four matches, Julen Lopetegui and his players knew that a win – and only a win – would take them through.
As the final whistle blew on a 1-0 defeat to Red Bull Salzburg, there was demonstrative disappointment. Internally, who knows what they were thinking. Sevilla had fallen out of one competition and into their natural home. They are kings of the Europa League.
Europe’s premier competition has not been particularly kind to Sevilla, although the feeling might well be mutual. Having progressed to the knockouts on five occasions, they have been eliminated by Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund – no shame there – but also to Leicester City, Fenerbahce and CSKA Moscow. In the Europa League, a remarkably different story. Sevilla have won 27 of their last 28 knockout ties here. They have humbled Manchester United, Liverpool and Inter.
Firstly, the origin story. In 2006, the Uefa Cup gave Sevilla salvation, ending a drought of 50 years without a major honour. They watched on as potential rivals fell away: Roma to Middlesbrough, city rivals Betis to Steaua Bucharest, Marseille to Zenit St Petersburg. All the while, Sevilla found a way. They overturned a first-leg defeat against Lille, found an extra-time winner from Antonio Puerta (tragically killed a year later) after 200 goalless semi-final minutes and crushed Middlesbrough in the final in Eindhoven.
Sevilla win this competition more than anyone else because they want to; the simplicity of that assertion does not erode its truth. They are a club caught in suspension domestically, well-run and well-meaning but ultimately constrained by the wealth that surrounds them. The same three clubs (Real Madrid, Barcelona, Atletico Madrid) have finished in the top three positions in La Liga in each of the last eight seasons. Look too at five of their last seven Copa Del Rey exits: 2-0, 5-0, 6-1 and 3-0 to Barcelona, 3-0 to Real Madrid. Even this season, where underperformance and financial issues around them has left Sevilla second in La Liga, two giants are chasing them down.
But in the Europa League, that reinforced glass ceiling does not exist. This is a deliberate strategy: the club understood that this competition was their easiest route to global recognition and they made sure to maximise that route. They are incredibly proud that they have reached more European finals this century than any other club and more proud still that they have won seven of them. While other, elite clubs may see Europa League qualification as a booby prize, Sevilla think the opposite.
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And what really does a club exist for other than this? Challenging the moneyed elite and usually failing? Exerting all of its efforts to get into – and stay in – a competition that they have next to no chance of winning? Or creating a legacy by allowing three different managers and countless different players to get their hands on a major European trophy. And giving half of a city a chance to relive those moments that no other competition could have hoped to provide. Sevilla and the Europa League are madly in love. The only fly in the ointment? Barcelona have gatecrashed this relationship too.
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