On Friday evening, Aston Villa will walk out at Sevilla’s Ramon Sanchez-Pizjuan stadium to compete for a piece of silverware that, outside of Spain, few supporters will have heard of, the Antonio Puerta Trophy.
It’s a friendly match held in memory of Sevilla academy graduate Antonio Puerta, who died in August 2007 at the age of 22.
Puerta suffered a cardiac arrest during a La Liga match against Getafe and, despite initially appearing to recover and walking to the dressing room, collapsed again and died three days later in hospital.
His death stunned Spanish football. He had been one of Sevilla’s own.
Puerta made his first-team debut during the 2003-04 season and went on to make 88 appearances for the club and one for Spain, in 2006.
He helped his team 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 and what began as a relatively modest pre-season fixture has become an annual part of the club’s calendar.
