BARCELONA VISIT NERVIÓN 72 YEARS AFTER SEVILLA'S HISTORIC TITLE WIN ON LES CORTS

Saturday's match at the Ramón Sánchez-Pizjuán is an important one. Sevilla FC will try to put and end of the Barcelona’s unbeaten run in La Liga in another crucial clash at the Ramón Sánchez-Pizjuán Stadium. A fixture of its own impressive magnitude but one that cannot be compared to what happened 72 years ago to the day. On the 31st of March 1946, the same date as tomorrow’s game, both teams fought to lift the league title at Les Corts stadium. Going into the game top of the table and just one point ahead of the Catalonian side, Sevilla FC needed a win or a draw to be champions.

Just 14 teams were part of La Liga at the time and the league calendar spanned from the 23rd of September 1945 until the 31st of March 1946. The Nervionenses, with Ramón Encinas as manager, played at a packed Les Corts Stadium in Barcelona, against a team which had lifted the league title twice in a row in the years prior. One point ahead with one game to play, Sevilla were dependent on themselves. 

Araujo's goal gave Sevilla what they needed to lift the title on Catalonian soil 

The Les Corts Stadium, which was Barcelona's home for eleven years after would be the setting for Sevilla history, which was made in front of one thousand travelling Nervionenses fans who had made the trip to Catalonia to experience the excitement of the fixture. Though el 'Pato' (the Duck) Araujo put Sevilla in the lead very early on, Bravo's equaliser in the second-half would make for an uncomfortable half an hour and an epic effort from the Sevillistas to hang on to the title. In the end, 1-1 would be enough for a side who had been runner up twice and now went one step further. 

Busto, Joaquín, Villalonga, Alconero, Antúnez, Eguiluz, López, Arza, Araujo, Herrera and Campos were the players who were chosen that day and returned to Seville as heroes. To the day, they remain just that for making the impossible possible against a giant of Spanish football. The same giants return to Nervión tomorrow 72 years after history was made on Les Corts. Vincenzo Montella's team will be looking to bring the same feeling of glory to the Sánchez-Pizjuán.