It has been a whirlwind few weeks for Jesus Navas. After captaining Sevilla to their seventh Europa League title at the end of May, he was later called up to the Spain squad for the first time in almost three years.
Navas was clearly not just brought in to add experience or make up the numbers, with Luis de la Fuente deciding to start him over Dani Carvajal at right back for Spain’s UEFA Nations League semi-final clash with Italy, earning his 47th cap for his nation in the process.
With this appearance, Navas become the oldest ever player to feature for La Roja, as per MD, having done so aged 37 years and 206 days. The late Antoni Ramallets was the previous holder of the record, having last appeared for Spain in 1961 aged 36 years and 349 days.
Navas will hope to inspire Spain to victory over Italy in Twente, as they target reaching Sunday’s final, in which they would face Croatia. However, defeat should mean they take on the Netherlands in the third/fourth play-off.
