THREE CONSECUTIVE SEASONS IN THE TOP FOUR AT THIS STAGE FOR THE FIRST TIME IN HISTORY

Less than one month remains to decide the state of play and what is revealed after a 38 game season. However, in the finishing straight with five games left to play there is one statistic that has gone unnoticied in terms of the league standings. Maybe the fact that having spent so many weeks in second position hides the fact that in the long history of the first division, they have achieved something that they have never done before. With these decisive games ahead, for the first time Sevilla could seal three consecutive qualifications for the Champions League. 

Although the number of teams in the First Division has been changing - nearly always increasing - during the last century of league football, Sevilla have never secured three consecutive seasons so high up in the table at this point of a season. Until the arrival of Julen Lopetegui they never had been among the top four three seasons in a row heading into the final five matchdays of the season In fact, the three times that the Basque has done this, fourth in the two previous seasons and third in the current season - has only been matched by four others in the 21st century, none of them consecutively. 

The seventh time that the team has reached matchday 33 in the top four in the 21st century - three on them with Lopetegui 

In 2016/17 with Sampaoli the team was fourth, in 2008/09 with Jiménez third, as well as in 2006/07 and 2004/05 in which the team was also third at this point in the season with Juande Ramos and Joaquín Caparrós respectively. On all of these occasions, the team went on to finish in the same position except in 2004/05 when they finished sixth. You have to go back to the 20th century and back to 1969/70 for the time before, where the team was third on matchday 25 of 30 and that was where they finished under the Asturian Max Merkel. It was the eleventh and last time that they managed it in the 20th century, giving way to a period of highs and lows with some relegations to the Second Division, a chapter which was closed with the resurgence since 2005 that still continues.

Por décadas, en los años cuarenta lo consiguió hasta cinco veces. En la 1939/40 iba incluso líder, aunque acabó cediendo el primer puesto en detrimento del Atlético Aviación y finalizó segundo. Un año más tarde iba tercero a cinco jornadas para el final y acabó quinto, mientras que en la 1942/43 iba segundo, tal y como terminó. Por su parte, en la 1943/44 iba cuarto y cerró la temporada tercero. Cierra la década en este aspecto el año del título liguero, el de la 1945/46, en el que ya marchaba primero a esas instancias. Los otros cinco precedentes datan de los años cincuenta, empezando por la 1950/51 -era segundo en la 25ª jornada y así llegó a la 30ª-. En la 1953/54 pasó de la tercera a la quinta plaza, mientras que en la 1955/56 era cuarto y se mantuvo ahí. En la 1956/57 saltó del cuarto al segundo puesto para sellar su primer pasaporte a la Copa de Europa, y cierra el repaso, antes de volver a llegar a la gran campaña de Merkel, la 1959/60. A las órdenes de Luis Miró, llegó a cuarto y las cinco últimas jornadas y así consiguió llegar a puerto.

Throughout the 40s and 50s they managed it five times. In 1939/40 they were even first, although they ended by losing first place to Atlético Aviación and finished second. One year later they were third with five games to play and finished fifth, while in 1942/43 they were second and that's where they finished. In 1943/44 they were fourth and finished the season third. They rounded off the decade with the league title in 1945/46, in which they were first on both occasions. The other five occasions were from the 1950s, starting in 1950/51 - they were second on the 25th matchday and that's where they finished by the 30th. In 1953/54 they went from third to fifth place, while in 1955/56 it was fourth where they stayed. In 1956/57 they jumped from fourth to second to seal their first-ever place in the European Cup before again doing it in Merkel's great season in 1959/60. Under Luis Miró they were fourth heading into the final five games of the season and that is where they managed to finish.