As the final whistle blew at Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan last Sunday a sense of disappointment reigned among fans within the stadium. Despite the protestations of Coach Unai Emery, Los Rojiblancos couldn’t breach the impenetrable Eibar defence as they were held to a goalless draw.
Sevilla’s failure to beat Eibar is notable as they played three days after the 1-0 win against Croatian outfit HNK Rijeka that put them through to the Europa League knockout stages. For Emery’s men their draw on Sunday meant though Sevilla remained in fourth place, it was a lost opportunity.
That is because third placed Atletico Madrid, just three points ahead of Sevilla before the weekend’s round of matches, surprisingly lost 1-0 at home to Villarreal. Victory against Eibar would have put them level on points with the champions. Failure to defeat Eibar meant Valencia closed the gap on Sevilla to two points after defeating Rayo Vallecano 3-0.
Though defeat to Rijeka would have meant crashing out of the Europa League it would also have allowed Sevilla to focus towards achieving a Champions League spot for next season. But Emery’s comments before the game against Rijeka hinted he valued the competition.
“We have to feel it and want it,” he explained. “For us, tomorrow is a special day because we’re playing in the Europa League and because we want to continue experiencing this competition,” the Coach stressed.
Emery’s words show a willingness to juggle the Europa League and La Liga this season. However, previous clubs who have tried the same approach have found it extremely hard to balance the two, as Valencia found out last season. But there are several reasons why Sevilla have prioritised the Europa League on the same level as sealing a Champions League spot in La Liga.
The Europa League has always been a tournament in which Sevilla have prided themselves. During the last 10 years of the competition, when it was still called the UEFA Cup, the club enjoyed many glorious moments. Sevilla, under Juande Ramos, won the UEFA Cup back-to-back in 2006 and 2007.
In addition, Emery in his first season on the Sanchez Pizjuan bench, won last season’s Europa League in a dramatic penalty shoot against Benfica in Turin.
Admittedly, on the three occasions where Sevilla won Europe’s secondary club competition the prize money or incentives wasn’t as lucrative as winning or even participating in the Champions League. However, UEFA have sought to deal with the highlighted weaknesses of the competition, thereby silencing the critics.
From this season onwards winners of the Europa League will be awarded a spot in next season’s Champions League. No doubt it is an incentive that has sparked renewed interest in the competition across Europe, let alone at Sevilla, as Emery looks to replicate what Ramos did and defend the trophy.
To do that Los Nervionenses must have a strong squad to deal with a League and European campaign. Time will tell if Emery can withstand the pressure or wilt.
