Sevilla: Inside the innovative La Liga club emerging as title contenders

It was an innovative moment that captured both Sevilla's growth on the pitch and their burgeoning reputation off it — legendary Brazil forward Ronaldo, O Fenomeno, beaming down from the screen at the Ramon Sanchez-Pizjuan Stadium to welcome Anthony Martial to the club on loan from Manchester United.

The calibre of player recruited is something Sevilla are excited about — a deal director of football Monchi was working on for almost two months — while the marketing that complemented Martial's arrival gives a snapshot into the mechanics of a club where everyone is pulling seamlessly in the same direction.

Sevilla return to La Liga action at Osasuna on Saturday sitting second in the table and hoping they can reel in Real Madrid's four-point lead to win a first league title since 1946.

It would be a huge achievement for a club who, despite becoming kings of the Europa League and winning the continent's second-tier competition six times this century, have never really threatened to break Real, Barcelona and Atletico Madrid's domestic stranglehold since returning to La Liga in 2001.

The Andalusians have evolved massively in that time but especially in recent seasons, as midfielder Ivan Rakitic observed when he returned in 2020 after a six-year spell with Barcelona.

«When I came back I was really surprised by the big steps the club did,» the 33-year-old, who anticipates even «bigger possibilities to come», tells BBC Sport.

«The level of the team, the players the club can sign today, is much different than maybe seven or eight years ago. All these big players, they really want to be part of Sevilla.

»Now players don't have to leave to be in a big club because Sevilla is fighting for everything, for all titles."

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