From title hopefuls to Europa League underdogs, Sevilla's slide should give United hope

For a team who have finished fourth in La Liga for three seasons in a row and never out of the top 10 since they were promoted 21 years ago, this term has been a disaster for Sevilla.

The club, under their third manager of the season, sit 13th, just five points clear of Valencia – yes Valencia – in the final relegation spot. But for a new manager bounce – Jose Luis Mendilibar has overseen two wins and a draw – it would be much worse.

Sevilla were 19th at the halfway stage under Jorge Sampaoli, before the Argentine received an €8 million pay off for five months work. Even now, only four clubs have conceded more than Sevilla’s 44 goals from 28 games. Only five have won fewer than Sevilla’s eight matches.

That's a significant slide given Sevilla boasted the best defence in La Liga last term when Bono, the heroic Moroccan goalkeeper who came to global prominence during the last year's World Cup finals in Qatar, won the Zamora trophy for being Spain’s best goalkeeper.

Julen Lopetegui was boss at the start of this season, as he had been since 2019. The former Spain head coach and current Wolves manager had been doing such an impressive job that Manchester United considered him as one of the four candidates to replace Ralf Rangnick, before opting for Erik ten Hag.

Lopetegui took Sevilla to second in La Liga in January 2022 and brought in Antony Martial on loan from United on a huge wage to push for the title. Martial scored a miserable one goal; Sevilla finished fourth.

This season started badly with one point from the first four league games. In Europe, Sevilla lost 4-0 at home to Manchester City before Lopetegui lost his job the day after a 4-1 Champions League home defeat to Borussia Dortmund in October. These fours were not the 4x4 fourth-place finishes he was hoping for.

Sevilla dropped into the Europa League and were competent enough to eliminate PSV Eindhoven in the play-off and Fenerbahce in the last 16. That only 24,480 watched the home leg of the Fenerbahce tie shows how low the mood was – Sevilla are averaging 36,402 at home in La Liga this term. They drew 2-2 at home to Celta Vigo on Friday, but were leading 2-0 until the 88th minute.

Why has this happened? The team renown for excellent recruitment under sports director Monchi recruited poorly last summer. Adnan Januzaj, once of United and released at the end of his contract by Real Sociedad last season, was signed in a transfer deadline day panic. The 28-year-old Belgium forward started only one game and was taken off at half time, before being loaned to Istanbul Basaksehir in January. Isco, a five-time Champions League winner with Real Madrid, also joined last August. His contract was terminated in January and, age 30, he’s currently without a club. “He did not meet the club’s expectations,” was one manager's assessment.

Defender Alex Telles, on loan from Manchester United, missed the first 11 games in 2023 due to a knee injury. Rafa Mir and Papu Gomez, two star players, haven’t been. Mir scored 10 league goals last term and has only three this. Gomez, the mercurial 35-year-old Argentine, has been out with an ankle injury since November. Ivan Rakitic, another veteran of the same age and back where his career blossomed and where he met his wife, was peripheral under Lopetegui but is now featuring more for Mendilibar. The Basque coach, 62, promised to go back to basics and sort out Sevilla’s problems to keep them up.

Sevilla and their 1,100 travelling fans travel to Old Trafford for Thursday’s Europa League quarter-final first leg against Manchester United as clear underdogs. When the teams first met, in the last 16 of the 2018 Champions League, it was Jose Mourinho who described his United side as the underdogs. The reality showed he was correct: Sevilla had 25 shots to United’s two in the first leg which, thanks to David de Gea, somehow ended goalless. Sevilla fans were baffled why United refused to attack.

In the second leg, substitute Wassim Ben Yedder scored twice, the first after 75 minutes, to silence Old Trafford. United were 165 minutes into a 180-minute tie before showing any urgency. That defeat was the start of slide which led to Mourinho losing his job.

United met Sevilla again in 2020 in a one-off Europa League semi-final in Cologne behind closed doors. Again, Sevilla triumphed. Again, they went on to win the competition they have won far more than any other club: six times since 2006. Before that success, Sevilla hadn’t won a single trophy since 1948.

Sevilla have triumphed in both previous meetings with the English giants, but United’s form against the Spanish opponents they keep getting drawn against this season, all teams above Sevilla in the league, reads won four, drawn one and lost one. It will be Erik ten Hag’s 50th game in charge of United in what has so far been an encouraging season. For Sevilla, they give up hoping to retain a trophy they have dominated and have the advantage of the second leg being at the atmospheric Sanchez Pizjuan. Whether that will be a sell-out depends on how they perform at Old Trafford.