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SIX DECADES OF WAITING, NINETY MINUTES TO KEEP THE DREAM ALIVE

03/04/2018
Sixty years on, Seville hosts a top-flight European quarter-final the whole footballing world will have its eyes on. Armed with the well-earned conviction that Sevilla can beat anyone on its day, Montella's side will look for a result that can set the stage for the Allianz Arena to become the new Theatre of Dreams

The waiting is over. After winning the right to proudly declare itself one of the eight best teams in Europe, Sevilla FC can finally experience the thrill of a Champions League quarter-final under the lights of the Ramón Sánchez-Pizjuán. Having already proven ourselves capable of doing the unthinkable, another footballing giant - this time Bayern Munich - comes knocking on the door of Nervión. There can be no doubting that Sevilla Football Club will answer with all its might.   

Expect a full-house. Expect a louder Sánchez-Pizjuán than you've ever heard before. Expect a spectacle. But don't expect Sevillistas to just come along for the ride. The whole world might be aware of the heavy favourites tag weighing at the ankles of the latest footballing dynasty to tread Seville's holy footballing ground, but just as Manchester United learnt in the last-16, just as Barcelona learnt in our fabled European Supercup Final, just as Liverpool learnt in the final of the Europa league, Sevilla knows no such thing as favouritism. Statistics may be one thing and predictions may be another, but neither can account for Club DNA forged in the defiance of expectations, nor can they quash the ability to stand tall against the grandest of opponents.

Tonight, one European pentachampion faces another: one permanently etched into the Europa League's history, the other etched into the Champions League's. Though Sevilla can already boast a proud history when facing German teams, tonight's monster is another class apart - sitting on the cusp of their 28th Bundesliga title, 17 points adrift of their closest rivals in domestic competition. Dwarfing Sevilla in honours won and in economic terms, Bayern come in hot off a 6-0 mauling of Borussia Dortmund and an 8-1 aggregate victory over Besiktas in the last round of tonight's competition. In short, a favourite both in form and stature.

Sevilla boast a proud history against German teams but face a different monster in red-hot Bayern Munich

But if Sevilla FC's football has proven anything this season it's its unpredictability and after all is said and done, it will be football that talks. Though Banega will be unavailable through suspension, the changing room will know now more than ever that the collective is more important than any individual contribution. As was Montella's rallying call in his pre-match press conference, the collective effort should be concerned with making Bayern uncomfortable. With an electric atmosphere guaranteed and nerves bound to be high, the Nervionenses will need to rob their visitors of the possession game Munich accustomed to - much like against Barcelona this Saturday before Suárez and Messi robbed the side of their good work.

This will be much more difficult in practice than in theory against a Jupp Heynckes side which is more than used to performing on big occasions; however, Sevillistas might just take comfort in the fact that in eleven matches, no German side has ever won in the Ramón Sánchez-Pizjuán. From the first 1-0 win against Kaiserslautern in the 1982/83 season, to a 3-0 thrashing of Monchengladbach in the 15/16 season, Sevilla have shown consistent strength against German opposition. Wins against Schalke 04 in 05/06, Stuttgart in 08/09, Freiberg in 13/14 and Monchengladbach once again in 14/15 only strengthen the record. Joining Mainz 05, Borussia Dortmund and Hannover 96 (who all managed draws), Bayern will be the tenth German team to play in Nervión. They will undoubtedly be the strongest.

But while the whole world sits and waits for Bayern to make noise with their football, 40,000 louder Sevillistas will flood into the Ramón Sánchez-Pizjuán ready to experience a night of magic. With the courage the Club is famous for, with the knowledge that no Sevillista recognises the word impossible and with the excitement of a team writing its own history as each minute ticks by, Sevilla FC will stand up and give it to them.