JESÚS NAVAS MAKES 700TH APPEARANCE FOR THE CLUB

20 December 2006. Jesús Navas had just turned 21 years old, already reaching historical club status having made 100 appearances. Alongside his teammates, most of which had recently celebrated European success in Eindhoven, he marked the occasion with a thumping 4-0 home win against Deportivo de la Coruña. Very few of those players would have foreseen Navas going onto make his 700th appearance 18 years later. But that is exactly what happened last night in Butarque.

Of those 700 matches, 512 have been in LaLiga, 65 in the UEFA Europa League, 67 in the Copa del Rey, 47 in the UEFA Champions League, 5 in the Spanish Supercup and 4 in the UEFA Supercup. However this may be his final milestone as a player as his career draws to a close. Without a doubt, he has been one of the main figures of Spanish football during the past 20 years. It is almost seven years since he became our record appearance maker, overtaking Pablo Blanco's 415. It will be a long time until his record is beaten.

His 200th and 300th appearances came in European knockout matches, against Sampdoria in 2008 and Porto in 2011 respectively. The next three century milestones came during home league matches once he had returned to the club from Manchester City - against UD Las Palmas in September 2017, Athletic Club in January 2020 and Cádiz CF in April 2022. He potentially still has five league matches and one cup match to play before he calls time on his career. Having been playing for the club since 2003, it seems crazy to think of Sevilla FC without Jesús Navas.