"We've got to leave our soul in every game we have left". Those were the words of Jesús Navas - Sevilla FC's spiritual leader - who over the course of the season has embodied all the Sevilla virtues that are now needed in the final stretch of La Liga competition (virtues that have allowed him to sit on the cusp of every single record a Sevillista can stockpile). In his own way, with the humility he is famous for both on and off the field, Navas has called Sevilla to arms in the wake of the side's Copa del Rey defeat, asking for bravery, pride and for Sevilla Football Club to face up to its critics.
The opportunity to do so comes at the Ciutat de Valencia Stadium tonight against Levante UD, where Sevilla urgently need to refind winning ways. It's the stage Montella's men will have to show a positive mentality and the stage that will host the first of five must-win games that will clear up the Club's trajectory, against an opponent desperate to shore up their place in the Spanish top-flight for good.
Navas put it best: “We need to leave our soul in every match we have left”
Levante UD vs Sevilla FC, in that sense, is nothing other than a chance to wipe the slate clean and to begin in the challenge of picking up fifteen points from a possible fifteen to win. It's not out of the reach of Sevilla side, who until the end of the season (for the first time this year) will have the luxury of focusing solely on league competition. La Liga now represents everything that is to come and will determine how May unravels, with three games in the Sánchez-Pizjuán following tonight's clash in Valencia and a blockbuster Europa League six-pointer with eternal rivals Betis in the Heliópolis.