Goodbye, Don Jesús Navas González

A farewell worthy of the legend that Jesús Navas has been for football. Sevilla designed a route of five scenarios in which he reviewed the different stages of the player’s careerall joined by a red line that formed an ‘N’. Through them, friends, family, coaches and teammates made a twenty-year journey, in which tears, nostalgia, a song from Arrebato dedicated to the protagonist and even sounds from the Cádiz Carnival through the ‘Eterna banda did not fail. of Captain Venom’. In addition, the palace received the legend numberthus becoming the 14th player to hold this honor. The delivery of said decoration was not without controversy, since The Sevilla board received a good bath of whistles. Neither the Christmas spirit nor an act like this appeased the discomfort of a sector of the fans with the current leaders of the club. They were not the only ones, since Sergio Ramos also received his share.

During one afternoon, Seville became the capital of football thanks to the strong presence of professionals from the sector who gathered at the Sánchez-Pizjuán with the sole objective of honoring a boy from Los Palacios. «If it hadn’t been for the hip… I would have continued, but this stops here»a choppy phrase, which summarizes the pinch that Jesús Navas has had since he decided to hang up his boots.

There were many professional colleagues who met again in Nervión to honor the captain. Some knew him in his first stage, while others coincided with him wearing a different shirt than that of Sevilla FC. So, Fernando Navarro, Antoñito, David Castedo, Juan Cala, Pep Martí, Carlitos, David Prieto, Javi Varas, Jesuli, Fernando Vega, Fernando Sales, Redondo, Mosquera, Alejandro Alfaro, Fazio, Escudé, Diego Capel, Aitor Ocio, Andrés Palop, Pablo Alfaro, Coke, Beto, Kepa, Kanouté, Marcos Acuña, Rafael Louzán, Sergio Ramos and many others They paraded along the red carpet prior to the event, which was also attended by Beticos Joaquín Sánchez and Manuel Pellegrini, as well as the current Ballon d’Or winner and teammate in the Spanish team Rodri. The Manchester City player has been able to be present due to his injury, but there are many teammates who are in the Premier League who have not been able to be physically present due to the competition. It is the case of Unai Emery, Monchi, Maresca who wanted to at least send a message of affection to Navas through the stadium’s video scoreboards to the loud applause of the stands.

They were also joined by Juande Ramos, Manolo Jiménez, Gregorio Manzano, Roberto Carlos, Julio Baptista, Davor Suker, Javier Saviola, Renato Dirnei and Paco Gallardo.

The beginnings in the quarry

The event began, as it could not be otherwise, with the beginnings of Jesús Navas in Sevilla. Several scenarios linked by a timeline They reviewed the entire career of the Sevilla captain, highlighting four milestones. The first of them, ‘A debut with duende’, was inaugurated by Pablo Blanco and Joaquín Caparrós, who took the floor to talk about how they discovered the elf of Los Palacios. After this, a very large representation of the Sevilla youth team made the entrance to the absolute protagonist of the event, who from the first moment seemed very excited. He knows that he sets the bar high, but he trusts in the value of the Utrera road school.

The special mention of the missing could not be missed either. Antonio Puerta and José Antonio Reyes. Their children took to the pitch representing the other two most historic youth players of Sevilla FC, and Navas assured them that it had been a luxury to play with them.

The European conquest

In the second scenario, ‘The Conquest of Europe’, Navas was accompanied by a large number of teammates who accompanied him in his first stage in Seville, which coincided with the beginning of the sporting successes of the Seville entity. Two of the captains of those good years, Andrés Palop and Frederick Kanoutéthey went up with the protagonist. Myths of Sevillismo, which highlighted the way of transmitting values, praising the shield and the hunger that the youth squad showed from the beginning.

Kanouté took the floor to admit that what he liked most was seeing how Jesus was becoming a leader, because he knew him as a child in love with football. While Andrés Palop wanted to highlight the solidarity of the Sevilla player when playing.

world champion

For this milestone in the life of Jesús Navas, the Sánchez-Pizjuán had stellar guests: Rodri, Carlos Marchena and Sergio Ramos. The event divided the stages of the Los Palacios player in the Spanish team into two. First, Marchena and Ramos talked about Navas’ tough start as an international, marked by the episodes of anxiety he suffered. A setback that he more than overcame to become champion of two European Championships and a World Cup. There in South Africa he met both in 2010. «Jesus is national heritage, like Andrés Iniesta«, Ramos (who took the occasional whistle) aptly summarized Navas’ career as an international, the only one who has won all possible titles with the National Team.

To complete this stage of his career, many colleagues from that time wanted to be present on this day: Vicente del Bosque, Fernando Llorente, Jordi Alba, Capdevilla, Xavi Hernández, Iker Casillas, Sergio Busquets, Xabi Alonso, Santi Cazorla, David Villa, Cesc Fábregas, Fernando Torres and Andrés Iniesta.

Navas’ most recent history as an international was summed up by Rodri on the stage baptized as ‘World Champion’, with the help of the rest of his teammates. He Ballon d’Orgreatly applauded by the stands, highlighted the presence of the palatial player in the two most successful stages of the absolute team and pointed it out as an amulet: “If he is there, you win and Sevillismo knows that.”

He was joined by the voices of the current coach Luis de la Fuente and of the current players others of the current Zubimendi, Remiro, Carvajal, Lamine Yamal, Gavi, Nico Williams, Ferran Torres, Pedri, Dani Olmo and Álvaro Morata

A round trip

Here, in the fourth stage, Álvaro Negredo, Nolito, Pellegrini, Joaquín Sánchez, Beto, Vaclik, David Soria, Gallardo, Serrano, Guille, Coke, Carriço, Marcos Acuña and Nemanja Gudelj accompanied Jesús to review the player’s time in the Manchester City and his return four years later to Sevilla.

His two coaches in the United Kingdom, Manuel Pellegrini and Pep Guardiola They received words of gratitude from the palace, for everything they learned under their command. Guardiola, through a video, addressed the Sevilla fans: «He perfectly represents Sevilla fans. Don’t let him escape, let him stay very close with you.

There was no shortage of messages from Sarabia, Pareja, Mercado, Escudero, Koundé, Ocampos, Óliver Torres, Franco Vázquez, Luuk de Jong, Bryan Gil, Scaloni, Banega, Fernando Reges, Lopetegui, Mendilibar and Bono. Colleagues who could not be physically present, but who did not want to miss the appointment.

Navas, legend

To conclude the event, the family of Jesus Navasone of the cornerstones of his life, wanted to praise the palace’s sacrifice during these last years as a professional. It has been the last few months of physical ordeal for the player, who has found it difficult (and still finds it difficult) to accept that the end has arrived. However, the Sevilla player is a unconditional cycling fan and he intends to take up the bicycle starting January 1 and his wife, Alejandra, neither wasted nor lazy gave him a bicycle to fulfill his New Year’s resolution.

There was also room for the celebration of a title. He Sevilla FC childrenwho became champion of the FC Futures Leaguewent out to walk the cup and give it to the fans. “We have a quarry for a while, stay calm,” the presenter of the event, Javi Nemo, told Navas.

And perhaps the most important feat of the afternoon was Jesus’ speech to his fans. Choppy, with tears and almost unable to speak, the legend said goodbye to everyone and, to conclude, he directly addressed the stands: “How much I’m going to miss you, I love you.” Goodbye, Mr. Jesús Navas González.