Aston Villa Become First English Club to Play for Antonio Puerta Trophy at Sevilla
Friday evening will see Aston Villa walk out at Sevilla's Ramon Sanchez-Pizjuan stadium to compete for a piece of silverware that, outside of Spain, few supporters will have heard of: the Antonio Puerta Trophy.
This year's 15th edition of the annual memorial match is significant because Aston Villa are the first English club to be invited to play for it, and because of the obvious connection between the two sides.
A tribute to one of Sevilla's own
The friendly is held in memory of Antonio Puerta, a Sevilla academy graduate who died in August 2007 at the age of 22. Puerta suffered a cardiac arrest during a La Liga match against Getafe and, despite initially appearing to recover and walking to the dressing room, collapsed again and died three days later in hospital. His death stunned Spanish football.
He had been one of Sevilla's own. Puerta made his first-team debut during the 2003-04 season and went on to make 88 appearances for the club, plus one appearance for Spain in 2006. He helped his team win five trophies in 15 months, including two consecutive Uefa Cups — now known as the Europa League.
A year after his death, Sevilla created a trophy in his honour, and what began as a relatively modest pre-season fixture has become an annual part of the club's calendar.
Emery returns to where he built a European dynasty
There is an obvious sub-plot for the visitors. Villa boss Unai Emery will return to the stadium where he enjoyed one of the most successful spells of his managerial career. Emery managed Sevilla between 2013 and 2016, winning the Europa League three times in succession.
Sevilla have dominated their own fixture down the years, winning 12 of the previous 14 editions of the trophy. Only Granada and Boca Juniors have managed to beat them.
The early editions were all-Spanish affairs, with Sevilla taking on fellow La Liga clubs before teams from outside the country began to be invited. Boca Juniors became the first overseas opponent in 2016, followed by Roma, Schalke, Independiente del Valle, Al-Ittihad and Al-Qadsiah.
Villa team news
Villa's Leon Goretzka has travelled to Sevilla after a knee injury so could be available to play. Striker Brian Madjo is also available after being out since Villa's 2-1 loss to Paris St-Germain in the Uefa Super Cup in August, while Taylor Harwood-Bellis will also look to get more minutes.