By Manolo Rodríguez

 

Real Betis is closing their journey through the group stage in UEFA Europa League. The beginning of journey that will hopefully be a long one. The team play at the Great Duchy of Luxembourg against F91 Dudelange, a team which the Green and Whitea already defeated last 4th of October at Villamarín for 3-0. That was the first time Real Betis played against a team from this country in European competitions.

However, it was not exactly the first time a Luxembourgian team played at Villamarín. There is a precedent from 2002. A match with little récords ofi t, as well as the competition within it happened. That was a tournament names European Union-Seville 2012 Trophy.

This newly-created event was held in May 2002 as a preamble pf the summit that will be held in June of said year in Seville between the Spanish Government and the one of the European Union.

The idea of this trophy was to strengthen the candidacy of the city to host the 2012 Olympic Games, and Real Betis and Sevilla FC participated in it along other 14 teams from 14 different countries of the European Union. Each one of the everlasting rivals would be top-seeded on each side of the draw and would play all the games at their home ground, while the semi-finals and the finals were to be played at La Cartuja Stadium.

 

Both clubs negotiated with the City Hall the best possible compensations for linking their names to the event and, in fact, they reached good agreements, specially considering they both had debts with the local government. The participation was retributed with 210,000 Euros and the same amount for letting the tournament to be played at their stadia. Also, each team would receive 70,000 Euros per game played. In Betis case, as they were qualified for the UEFA Cup that season, their rate per game was 140,000 Euros.

 

However, finding European opponents was not an easy task. The big teams had high appearance fess; other did not like the idea of taking part; and some others, such as Iraklis from Greece and Salzburg from Austria resigned in the last moment.

The last 16 round was finally drawn this way:

Real Betis- Etzella Ettelbrück (Luxembourg)          

Malmoe (Sweden) - Crystal Palace (England)                     

FC Utrecht (The Netherlands) - HJK Helsinki (Finland)    

Copenhagen FC (Denmark)- Eintracht Frankfurt (Germany)  

Sevilla FC- Bohemians FC Dublin (Ireland)

Chievo Verona (Italy)-CS Sedan-Ardennes (France)                     

FC Brugge (Belgium) - Marítimo CS Funchal (Portugal)   

 

The tournament took off in the Green and White Stadium with the match between Malmoe and Crystal Palace. The English won 2-1 and few spectators attended. A considerable increase of attendants was expected for the next game, in which Betis would take part.

But not many more. Only around 3,500 attended. Real Betis fans were happy because the team had recently gotten their ticket to play the UEFA Cup, but the situation had turned ugly when Juande Ramos was not renewed. Instead, his assistant coach, Paco Chaparro, had taken over.

Real Betis made their debut in the tournament on Sunday the 19th of May at 10 p.m. Their rivals were Etzella Ettelbrück from Luxembourg, and the away team played with white shirt and blue trunks. A modest team that had just gotren relegated to the Second Division of their country. The Luxembourgian precedent.

The game had little to talk about. Perhaps, the return of Argentinian Gastón Casas, who had not played since October of the previous year when he got seriously injured playing against FC Barcelona. Betis won 4-1 (tw goals from Estévez, one from Amato and one from Casas), and Gusjonsson and Academy player Estévez were the best.

These were the line-ups:

Real Betis: Gaspercic; Varela (David, m. 56), Belenguer, Rivas, Javi; Estévez, Calado, Castaño (Amato, m. 52), César (Diego, m. 76), Gudjonsson (Cañas, m. 52); Gastón Casas.

Etzella: Perone; Ferron, Polfer, Grettnich (Mischo, m. 71), Ney; Mestre (Leweck, m. 77), Ferreira (Kalabic, m. 82), Federspiel, Leweck (Spogen, m. 68); Holtz, Fernandes.

After that, Real Betis won a hard match against Crystal Palace by 2-0 (goals from Benítex and Amato) and, surprisingly, was eliminated in the penalty shoot-out by Maritimo de Funchal in the first semi-final.

The tournament didn't transcend in history. However, it brought a clash between Real Betis and a team from Luxembourg. Something insignificant back then but that has gotten notoriety 15 years later.

Now, Real Betis dreams in Europe go through the Great Duchy.