West Ham vs Sevilla: UEFA Europa League background, form guide, previous meetings

A fascinating second instalment of this UEFA Europa League round of 16 tie is in store after competition specialists Sevilla claimed a narrow win over debutants West Ham United in the first leg in Spain.

• West Ham were comfortable winners of UEFA Europa League Group H during the autumn, clinching top spot with a game to spare on 13 points – three more than runners-up Dinamo Zagreb, who defeated them 1-0 in London on Matchday 6.

• The Spanish side finished third in UEFA Champions League Group G behind LOSC Lille and Salzburg, winning just one of their six matches and ending up with six points, before edging past Dinamo Zagreb in the UEFA Europa League knockout round play-offs (3-1 h, 0-1 a).

Previous meetings
• Just one goal separated the clubs in the first leg at the Estadio Ramón Sánchez-Pizjuán – the venue for this season's UEFA Europa League final – as the clubs met for the first time. It arrived in spectacular style on the hour from Sevilla forward Munir, who half-volleyed home on the run from Marcos Acuña's free-kick.

• West Ham have won their previous two European ties against Spanish opposition, both in the European Cup Winners' Cup. They beat Real Zaragoza 3-2 on aggregate in the semi-final of their triumphant 1964/65 campaign (2-1 h, 1-1 a) and Real Madrid Castilla 6-4 in the 1980/81 first round (1-3 a, 5-1 h).

• Sevilla have played English sides 20 times with the record W9 D6 L5. They are undefeated against opponents from England in the UEFA Cup and UEFA Europa League (W6 D2), their last three fixtures before the first leg having all brought single-tie victories – 3-1 against Liverpool in the 2016 final, and 1-0 against Wolverhampton Wanderers and 2-1 against Manchester United in the quarter-final and semi-final respectively of their triumphant 2019/20 campaign.

• Last season, however, Sevilla fared less well when they faced Chelsea twice in the UEFA Champions League, drawing 0-0 away on Matchday 1 before going down 0-4 in Seville on Matchday 5 – the heaviest European home defeat in the club's history.

• Sevilla are unbeaten on their last three trips to England, the second of which provided their only victory in the country (D4 L3) when they defeated Manchester United 2-1 at Old Trafford in the second leg of the 2017/18 UEFA Champions League round of 16. They also prevailed 2-1 over the two legs, one of six knockout ties against English teams, including two finals, that Sevilla have won, the sole defeat coming against Leicester City in the 2016/17 UEFA Champions League round of 16 (2-1 h, 0-2 a).

Form guide
West Ham
• A sixth-placed finish in the 2020/21 Premier League earned West Ham a first appearance in the group stage of a UEFA competition. In each of their last two continental campaigns, in 2015/16 and 2016/17, they were eliminated in the UEFA Europa League qualifying phase by Romanian club Astra Giurgiu.

• The East Londoners won the European Cup Winners' Cup in 1964/65, beating 1860 München 2-0 in the Wembley final, and would reach the semi-finals, final and quarter-finals of that same competition over the next 16 years. The furthest they have previously gone in the UEFA Cup/UEFA Europa League was in 1999/2000, when, after qualifying as UEFA Intertoto Cup winners, they beat Osijek to reach the second round, where they lost to Steaua Bucureşti (0-2 a, 0-0 h). On their last UEFA Cup appearance, in 2006/07, they were beaten in the first round by Italian side Palermo (0-1 h, 0-3 a).

• This season David Moyes' side won their first three Group H matches without conceding – 2-0 away to Dinamo, 2-0 at home to Rapid Wien and 3-0 at home to Genk. They then dropped their first points in a 2-2 draw away to the Belgian side before wrapping up top spot with a 2-0 win in Vienna.

• West Ham's European record at the London Stadium is W3 L2. Their overall home record in Europe is now W19 D3 L6.

• The Hammers have overturned four of the previous five UEFA ties in which they lost the first leg away, most recently beating Domžale (1-2 a, 3-0 h) in the third qualifying round of the 2016/17 UEFA Cup. Their sole aggregate defeat was against Steaua in that 1999/2000 UEFA Cup tie.

Sevilla
• Fourth in the Spanish Liga for the second successive season under coach Julen Lopetegui in 2020/21, Sevilla were runners-up in their UEFA Champions League group behind eventual winners Chelsea before bowing out in the round of 16 to Borussia Dortmund (2-3 h, 2-2 a).

• This season Sevilla's UEFA Champions League campaign ended after six matches. They opened up with draws against each of their Group G opponents – 1-1 at home to Salzburg and away to Wolfsburg and 0-0 in Lille – before losing 1-2 at home to the French champions on Matchday 4. A 2-0 home win against Wolfsburg kept them in the hunt going into Matchday 6, but a 1-0 defeat in Salzburg left them in third place.

• The Andalusian side are appearing in the UEFA Europa League round of 16 for a record sixth time. They have lifted the trophy on four of their previous six appearances – in 2013/14, 2014/15 and 2015/16 with Unai Emery as head coach and in 2019/20 under Lopetegui – as well as winning the UEFA Cup back-to-back in 2005/06 and 2006/07. Sevilla's only defeats in 24 previous UEFA Europa League knockout phase ties were on away goals against Porto in the 2010/11 round of 32 (1-2 h, 1-0 a) and after extra time against Slavia Praha in the 2018/19 round of 16 (2-2 h, 3-4 a).

• Sevilla's record on the road in the UEFA Europa League knockout phase, including fixtures at neutral venues, is W13 D6 L5, with four wins in succession, the last of them 3-2 against Inter in the 2019/20 final in Cologne, before they lost last time out in Zagreb. However, in European competition overall they are winless in their last five away fixtures (D3 L2), failing to score in the last three.

• Sevilla have won all but two of the 22 UEFA competition ties in which they claimed a home victory in the first leg, the sole exceptions when they failed to defend a one-goal advantage against Kaiserslautern in the 1982/83 UEFA Cup third round (1-0 h, 0-4 a) and Leicester in that UEFA Champions League tie five years ago. Since that defeat by Kaiserslautern they have prevailed in all three ties after winning the first home leg 1-0, most recently against Žalgiris Vilnius in the 2018/19 UEFA Europa League third qualifying round (5-0 a).

UEFA Europa League squad changes
West Ham
In: None
Out: None

Sevilla
In: Jesús Corona (Porto), Nemanja Gudelj, Anthony Martial (Manchester United, loan)
Out: Suso, Erik Lamela, Óscar Rodríguez (Getafe, loan)

Links and trivia
• Anthony Martial joined Sevilla on loan from Manchester United in January. He was a starter in the United side knocked out of this season's English League Cup by West Ham at Old Trafford in September (0-1), though his last game for the Manchester club before leaving for Sevilla was as a substitute in a 1-0 home win against the Hammers on 22 January.

• Three other members of Sevilla's UEFA Europa League squad have operated in the English Premier League:
Jesús Navas (Manchester City 2013–17)
Fernando (Manchester City 2014–17)
Rafa Mir (Wolves 2018–21, Nottingham Forest 2019/20, loan)

• Navas was a Premier League champion with Manchester City in 2013/14, also winning two League Cups, the second of them alongside Fernando in 2015/16.

• Martial, his Sevilla team-mate Jules Koundé and West Ham pair Alphonse Areola and Kurt Zouma have all been capped by France.

• West Ham midfielder Pablo Fornals is a current Spanish international who played in his homeland for Málaga (2015–17) and Villarreal (2017–19). Hammers goalkeeper Areola also had loan spells in Spain at Villarreal (2015/16) and Real Madrid (2019/20).

• West Ham's Nikola Vlašić and Sevilla's Ivan Rakitić were fellow Croatian internationals from 2017 to 2019.

• Hammers boss Moyes had a spell in Spain with Real Sociedad from November 2014 to November 2015. His one Liga game against Sevilla was a 4-3 home win on 22 February 2015.

• West Ham's Czech trio of Tomáš Souček, Vladimír Coufal and Alex Král all featured for the Slavia Praha side that eliminated Sevilla from the 2018/19 UEFA Europa League in the round of 16, Král getting a goal in Seville and Souček scoring a penalty in the second-leg 4-3 win in Prague.

• The Andalusian club are one of two former UEFA Europa League winners competing in the round of 16, alongside 2010/11 victors Porto. Three other participants – Bayer Leverkusen, Eintracht Frankfurt and Galatasaray – have also, like Sevilla, lifted the UEFA Cup.

• Sevilla are competing in the UEFA Europa League round of 16 for a record sixth time. Six other clubs have reached this stage of the competition on five occasions – Valencia, Manchester United, Benfica, Zenit, Villarreal and Dynamo Kyiv.

• This is Sevilla's 43rd match in the UEFA Europa League knockout phase, which sets a new competition record.

• West Ham were one of just two newcomers to the UEFA Europa League group stage in 2021/22, the other Danish champions Brøndby. Mid-term arrivals Barcelona have made it three debutants in this season's competition proper.

Penalty shoot-outs
• West Ham's record in one UEFA penalty shoot-out is W1 L0:
5-3 v Birkirkara, 2015/16 UEFA Europa League second qualifying round

• Sevilla's record in six UEFA penalty shoot-outs is W5 L1:
4-3 v PAOK, 1990/91 UEFA Cup first round
3-1 v Espanyol, 2006/07 UEFA Cup final
2-3 v Fenerbahçe, 2007/08 UEFA Champions League round of 16
4-3 v Real Betis, 2013/14 UEFA Europa League round of 16
4-2 v Benfica, 2013/14 UEFA Europa League final
5-4 v Athletic Club, 2015/16 UEFA Europa League quarter-final