On the third floor of the Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán stadium is a long, white corridor. One side is lined by red doors, with each leading to a different office (marketing, finance, media, protocol, presidency, board room, sporting directorate). The other is lined with posters and photographs, portraits of players from the club's history and the moments that made them. At the end of the hall is a huge map of Europe, upon which Sevilla's journey is marked: where they have been, what they have been, what they have become.
There are images from Eindhoven, where Sevilla won their first European trophy, the UEFA Cup, in 2006. From no trophies in almost 60 years to eight in a decade, two-thirds of all the titles won since their foundation over a century ago, history made across Europe and celebrated. Images from Eindhoven, Glasgow 2007, Turin 2014 and Warsaw 2015. Inside the offices, preparations are being made for the next stop: Basel in 2016. Everything from tickets to flights to luggage -- yes, luggage really is a concern, taken right to the top.
Last week marked the 10th anniversary of that first final. Now Sevilla are heading into their fifth. They have won four, a competition record. There is something about Sevilla and the UEFA Cup that even calling it the Europa League couldn't change, in part because Sevilla have seen something in the UEFA Cup. They have embraced it.
As their sporting director, Monchi, said, "We owe this competition a huge amount ... and maybe the competition owes us something too. I don't want to exaggerate, but we've given prestige to the tournament by taking it seriously ... [It's] the poor relation of Europe, but we've practically thrown the league to be in the final this year."
Not everyone has taken this competition so seriously, but in it, Sevilla saw an essential truth about the game that is too often overlooked: It's all about glory, titles, competing for something, memories, moments. The UEFA Cup has offered that and, with it, an identity, a history and maybe even a community too. Certainly, a stronger one. Supporters are setting off to Switzerland in the thousands.
"Ask any fan, 'What would you prefer: finish third or win a trophy?' and it's no contest," Monchi said. That message gets passed on.
"The first thing they said to me when I got here was, 'Unai, playing in the Champions League is lovely [as Valencia did three years in a row], but you haven't experienced what it is to win things,'" coach Unai Emery said. "And I felt it, and it is the greatest feeling there is, the best thing that you share with the fans. You can win the Europa League."
"Fans want their emotions to come to the surface. And how do they do that?" he said. "By watching their team win, watching their team transmit emotion: intensity, attacking, scoring goals, competing, fighting. That awakens them. But that alone isn't enough. You have to win. If you can keep a key objective alive in a competition, the chance of winning it, that's what generates ilusión. That's the perfect mix. The Champions League generates more money and allows you to buy better players, yes, but what fans really want is to enjoy their team, to win things."
Sevilla have won things, and it's been some journey, emotional and epic. It has been far from easy, no smooth ride to the final, no cruising to the cup. Sevilla beat Midd*****ro 4-0 in the 2006 final; it didn't happen again. Twice they won the final on penalties, against Espanyol in Glasgow and Benfica in Turin. Then there was last year's final: 1-0 down, 2-1 up, 2-2, then a 3-2 win.
This year, they face Liverpool. It won't be simple, but no one expects it to be. It almost seems that no one wants it to be, either. Sevilla are delighted to face such a historic club, and easy was never their way. Without danger, there is no glory. For Sevilla, there has been both, an identity forged in this competition.
In 2014, they lost 2-0 away against local rivals Real Betis (there are few places with a rivalry such as Sevilla), only to win 2-0 away against Betis a week later and emerge 4-3 in the penalty shootout that that followed. Betis, broken that night, were relegated. Sevilla won the trophy that was becoming their trophy. "My peace, your grief," ran one banner during the derby.
That was no one-off, either. Sevilla have won four penalty shootouts. They've advanced on away goals. They've been seemingly permanently on edge. Four times they have had to come back from a first-leg defeat. There was a late, late winner in Schalke, from Antonio Puerta, who sadly passed away, and an injury time equaliser from Andres Palop. That's goalkeeper Andres Palop.
Somehow, Sevilla went through that night with a 3-2 win in extra time. Somehow, they always do. Somehow, they went through against Valencia in the 2014 semifinal. The 2-0 winners at home, they were 3-0 down away and getting overrun. Then it happened: Stephane M'bia headed in an away goal in the last minute. Sevilla scored out of nowhere.
Just how out of nowhere it was is captured by the former Valencia captain David Albelda, who was commentating on the game for Spanish radio. With less than a minute to go, he took his cue to sum up a satisfactory, historic evening for his side, only for the knife to be slipped into his back live on air. "At no stage has it looked like we won't go through. I knew we would score, but the impressive thing has been not conceding, and it has never looked likely to happen," Albelda said. Below him, things were about to go wrong. "I don't want to jinx it, but ..." And then: "Oh, you're f---ing joking. F---. Don't f---ing do this. How unfair, man. Mother of God."
Albelda could not believe it, but Unai Emery could. He had talked of the sprit of Puerta and Palop, and there he was, leaping about on the touchline, waving his arms, heading the ball with M'bia. There might not have been method in the madness, exactly, but there was something in it. He calls it faith; others call it fortune. It is certainly something.
"Occasionally, you need to break the mould, to lose organisation to disorganise the other team," he said. "You have to be positive, proactive. A fan said to me: 'Unai, you scored the goal.' No. But you'd go get the ball so that they took [throw-ins and free kicks] quickly. And you have to have faith."
"They were much the better side," Emery admitted. "But we knew that the chance would always be there. We can be losing 3-0 in the 80th minute, but a goal will always take us to the final. And I was living it, I felt it. Energy. Yes, yes, yes. It was an act of faith."
That season, Sevilla hadn't actually qualified for Europe but were handed a place because of the financial difficulties that barred Rayo and Málaga. Yet they went through, just as they went through against Athletic Bilbao in this season's quarterfinal, even though they lost 2-1 at home. Again, penalties did it. Kevin Gameiro scored despite barely being able to walk, while Beñat Exteberría was missing despite being the best player on the pitch. The match finished 5-4.
"We were brilliant," Athletic manager Ernesto Valverde rightly said, but they were out. Sevilla were into the semifinal.
No team wants to be knocked out of the Champions League, but when Sevilla left there, slipping into the Europa League instead, they came home. One opportunity had gone, but another, previously denied to them, had been handed back: the chance to defend their title, and it is theirs. They could become the first team in 40 years to win a European competition three times in a row, and that was how they saw it. A real prize -- nothing "consolation" about it. Another piece of history, another moment. The league has been all but forgotten. Instead Europe calls again, with the competition that feels like their own.
When that quarterfinal draw was made and Athletic discovered they were facing Sevilla, Valverde admitted he would have preferred to face any other team.
"They are an extremely strong side, not just champions of the last edition but the one before and four times in recent years," he said. "Sevilla have this competition's number."
