On Friday evening, Aston Villa will walk out at Sevilla’s Ramon Sanchez-Pizjuan stadium to play for the Antonio Puerta Trophy, a friendly fixture held in memory of a Sevilla academy graduate who died in August 2007 at the age of 22.
Antonio Puerta suffered a cardiac arrest during a La Liga match against Getafe. He initially appeared to recover and walked to the dressing room, but collapsed again and died three days later in hospital. His death stunned Spanish football, and he remained one of Sevilla’s own, having made his first-team debut during the 2003-04 season. He went on to make 88 appearances for the club and one for Spain in 2006. He also helped Sevilla 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. What began as a relatively modest pre-season fixture has become an annual part of the club’s calendar. This year’s edition is the 15th, and it is particularly notable because Aston Villa are the first English club invited to play for it.
There is an obvious connection between the two clubs. Villa manager 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 the fixture historically, winning 12 of the previous 14 editions. 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.
For Villa, Leon Goretzka has travelled to Sevilla after a knee injury, so he 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.