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FOURTEEN YEARS ON FROM PARMA: WHEN THE ROUND OF 16 PROVED ONE STEP TOO FAR

05/03/2019

Sevilla FC fell in the UEFA Cup round of 16 against Parma in 2004/05, eliminated once more in a round that seemed cursed. Everything changed from the following season with knocking Lille out. From then, every single time that the team has got to the UEFA Europa League round of 16 they have gone on to win the tournament

There has been a lot of water under the bridge since that fateful 17 March 2005 in Parma. That 1-0 defeat in Parma with Cardone's goal, the only one of the tie, knocked Sevilla FC out from the UEFA Cup round of 16. It was the first season back in Europe after nine long seasons without European action, seasons which included two relegations to the second division in 96/97 and 99/00, meaning the excitement with which Sevilla awaited the tie was just as big as the disappointment with the elimination.

Two decades before, also in the UEFA Cup round of 16 in 82/83, Kaiserlautern turned around a 1-0 defeat in the Sánchez-Pizjuán with a convincing 4-0 win at home. In 95/96 Barcelona would do the same, sending Sevilla home after a 1-1 draw in Sevilla and a 3-1 in Barcelona. What happened in Parma, therefore, was nothing more than the same old story, with the coincidence that, in the three occasions the team had got to the round of 16, they had knocked out a Greek team in the round of 32.

The elimination against Parma was yet another failed attempt to get past the round of 16 which seemed cursed

The elimination in Parma therefore marks a before and after because everything would change the following season. In 05/06, back in the round of 16 after beating Lokomotiv Moscow, a 1-0 defeat in Lille brought the negative thoughts back to mind. But this time would be different. And since then every other time too.

Kanouté levelled things up and Luis Fabiano put Sevilla ahead on aggregate to seal a magical night in the Sánchez-Pizjuán. Jesús Navas, the only player remaining from that squad, was sent off in the 71st minute, with the match becoming 10 v 10 after a Lille red card, and the nerves could be felt throughout the stadium. But nothing more would happen. History had begun to change. The team had passed the hoodoo and got into the UEFA Europa League quarter-finals, a step very similar to that taken last year against Manchester United when they got into the Champions League quarter-finals but it proved one step too much.

After the disappointment in Parma: Lille, Shakhtar, Betis, Villarreal and Basel have been defeated in the Europa League round of 16 and Manchester United in the same round in the Champions League

What was once before an impassable obstance is now just another step in the path. Slavia Prague is the next opponent and could be the next team to fall at Sevilla's hands in the Europa League round of 16, joining Lille, Shakhtar Donetsk, Real Betis, Villarreal and Basel. Every time Sevilla have got past the round of 16 they have won the tournament. That nightmare in Parma, 15 years after, is now nothing more than just a memory of a difficult period now overcome.