Kanouté celebrates scoring at the Bernabéu
First team

AND RENATO MADE IT 4-3: THE LAST MAGIC NIGHT IN THE LEAGUE AT THE BERNABÉU

18/01/2019
Navas, Romaric and Kanouté put Sevilla 3-1 up at the break, before Renato made it 4-3 after Madrid had brought it level. Jesús Navas is the only remaining player in the team from that day

Sevilla FC play matchday 22 in La Liga this Saturday at 16:15 CET, and it comes up against none other than Real Madrid in the Santiago Bernabéu. The Bernabéu has not been a kind ground to Sevilla historically, in recent times you have to go back to the 2008/09 season for our last win in Madrid. 4-3 was the score on that night. Just over a decade that Sevilla hasn't tasted victory visiting an opponent who, on the other hand, is well used to suffering at the Sánchez-Pizjuán.

It was matchday 14 on a Sunday 7 December 2008 on a cold and rainy night in Madrid, where Sevilla FC arrived at the Bernabéu with 24 points in the fifth position to face Schuster's men, one place above them in the league with 26 points. Manolo Jiménez' line up was Palop, Konko, Escudé, Squillaci, Fernando Navarro, Romaric, Renato, Duscher, Adriano, Navas and Kanouté. Navas is the only remaining player in the squad from that team and is now Sevilla FC's captain. Dragutinovic, Fazio and Diego Capel also came on as subs that night.

Sevilla went in front very early with a goal from Adriano and went into the break 3-1 up after Raúl had equalised

The match went very quickly in Sevilla's favour that night, with Adriano finishing off a cross from Jesús Navas in the third minute. Although Raúl would only take just less than fifteen minutes to level it up, Romaric finished off a free kick from Renato three minutes later to put the Nervionenses back in front. It was a lively, intense match, worthy of the two teams contesting it. No player shied away from their individual battles. Just before the break, Kanouté put a gap in between the two teams, making it 3-1 after perfectly controlling and finishing a ball in the box.

Real Madrid, with a Santiago Bernabéu incensed with what was happening, came out to close Sevilla in the box and return parity to the scoreboard. The minutes passed by and it looked like a win for Sevilla was getting closer. It couldn't have been further from reality. Two back-to-back goals, first from Higuaín in the 67th minute and two minutes after from Gago, made it 3-3 and not only deflated Sevilla's hopes, but made them fear the worst of a possible defeat.

After Madrid made it 3-3, Sevilla pulled together and Renato sealed the win after Kanouté's cross

But football is football and Sevilla had fortune that night. With the match running towards its end and both sides anxious, Renato pushed Kanouté's excellent cross past Casillas in nets, sealing what ten years later continues to be Sevilla's last league win at the Santiago Bernabéu. This defeat, which put Sevilla in the Champions League spots over Madrid, cost Bernd Schuster his job, being replaced by the former Sevilla manager Juande Ramos.

Without a doubt, you need fortune to be on your side to come out of the Bernabéu with a win. That Sevilla, in addition to the quality of the players, put in the fight that their anthem speaks of to come out on top. It is time to end this run and win again.