On March 22 of last year, Schalke 04 and Seville finally disputed the Antonio Puerta trophy, which has been held every season for more than a decade in honor of the failed Nerviano player. “It was a desire of all that this tournament had Schalke as a rival. That team that we won but that became a little ours, of all Sevilla players. Coinciding with the tenth edition, it has finally been Schalke and its fans they visit us to remember our beloved Antonio “, said days before President José Castro. What if, there will be no fans in Spain who feel as identified with a team as Sevilla with the Gelsenkirchen club in that Bundesliga that resumes today and that in part it will calm the soccer 'monkey' that many fans have.
The connection between Seville and Schalke 04 starts at the end of April 2006, with the famous goal by Antonio Puerta in the UEFA Cup semifinals, something that opened the door to a final for the Nervión team many decades later and which meant the first chance to win a continental title in its history. Far from antagonizing the two hobbies, the prolegomena of that meeting with the German fans at the Seville Fair, which was being held, and everything that came after laid the foundations of a friendship that has lasted and consolidated over the years.
Months after that Puerta tragically passed away and Schalke was one of the first to express his pain towards his family, the club and the fans of Nervione. Since then, the gestures of affection between one team and another have been constant and very heartfelt. Also in the most recent loss of José Antonio Reyes, in whose funeral a representative of the German club was present.
LaLiga Santander
* Data updated as of May 16, 2020
The transfer of players, in addition, has been constant between one and the other club, thanks no doubt to the magnificent relationships between the two. Danish midfielder Christian Poulsen had signed from Schalke in 2006, months before Puerta's goal, and players have continued to land and depart in subsequent years. In January 2011, Ivan Rakitic arrived in Nervión. In the summer of 2016, after winning yet another Europa League, Coke left for Gelsenkirchen. Escudero, who made a stopover in Getafe, had also passed through a German club.
Thus, sevillism will be very attentive today sure to the derby of the Ruhr to encourage Los Mineros with a devotion that is surely strange for other Spanish fans and the rest of the world. 'My Schalke, Schalke, Schalke, here we are with you Schalke', many Nervionians could sing with the famous music of the famous hymn of El Arrebato de Fondo. Schalke, sixth in the table with nine games to go, needs the points to stay fully involved in the fight for Europe. And maybe fate will bring him Another fraternal confrontation with Sevilla next season, with the Europa League final, by the way, at Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán.