Magic

It's the only explanation.

Seven times. Seven (7). But this one doesn’t makes sense.

Sevilla’s season was a write-off, a disaster. Fighting relegation, shot from the Champions League by a cannon. Things were as bad as they had ever been.

José Luis Mendilibar was a short-term fix. An experienced head on steady shoulders to drag this team over the line.

But no. As if nothing had ever happened – as if their dreadful domestic campaign was just a bad dream – Sevilla will play Champions League football next year.

They will start again, invigorated, inspired, a squad refreshed and replenished, with yet another Europa League trophy to their name.

There are stories everywhere.

62-year-old Mendilibar – 30 years a coach throughout the lower reaches of the Spanish game. He kept Eibar in the top division for seven seasons, miraculously. This is another story inspired by his simple touch.

His teams are tireless, direct, brave – but that’s about it. Not intricate, just infectious and intense. They fight for second balls, they win them by hook or by crook. They work the ball wide and cross it in – 63 times against Juventus in the semi-finals, 40 against Roma in the final. And they believe, with every fibre of their being, that those simple things will work.

An extraordinary, understated career, capped by three extraordinary results.

Manchester United, Juventus, Roma. This was Mendilibar at his straight-thinking, straight-talking best.

Then there’s Jesús Navas. 37-year-old Jesús Navas, scampering up and down the right flank that he owns.

651 games for the club – 690 including the youth team – he was there when Sevilla won their first.

15 years later, he captains his club to their seventh, his delivery the difference for the equalising goal.

A legend of Spanish football. There are years left in those legs.

Gonzalo Montiel. Again!

A penalty to win the World Cup, and a penalty to win the Europa League, in the space of 165 days.

He originally missed in Budapest, and it felt wrong. But narratives matter in football, the most beautiful story often prevails.

The gods shone down on Sevilla and Montiel once more.

Yassine Bounou saving penalty kicks. Lucas Ocampos, back where he belongs. Ivan Rakitić oozing class. This was another night of Andalusian folklore – one that, against all the odds, stuck to that fabled old script.

Sevilla and the Europa League. They all lived happily ever after.