He might have been the one that led Sevilla to various trophies domestically and at the international level, but don't expect fans at the Ramón Sánchez Pizjuan to applaud him when he steps onto the pitch this coming weekend when Real Madrid face Sevilla.

Loyalty is a double-edge sword in sports today. It's a confusing bit of double-talk, drivel, and rhetoric that players as well as club presidents adhere to when it is most convenient to them. Loyalty at the professional level can be the equivalent of a high school crush. It is there for a few days until it all wears away or until one finds a new crush that makes the adrenaline flow.

Sevilla can still remember the trophies the won (two UEFA Cups, a European Super Cup, a Spanish Super Cup, and a Copa del Rey) and they will be forever grateful of those moments that the Nervionenses lived through. What they will never forget were the circumstances in which he did. Sevilla were ready to prove to Spain and all of Europe that they were worthy of being mentioned in the same breath as some of the continent's elite. They had just won the Spanish Super Cup against Real Madrid and the season was starting out fine until tragedy struck.

The player that was going to be the future of the club, and part of the nucleus of the Spanish national team for the next decade fell victim to multiple heart attacks and died on the pitch one fateful August night against Getafe.

The team was devastated and played with heavy hearts against an AC Milan side that was clinical and cold in their execution. As much as they wanted to, Sevilla put up a valiant fight, but it was not enough. Milan would win 3-1, but it wold be Sevilla receiving all of the praise for being so brave in the memory of a fallen teammate.

There were rumors of him leaving sooner rather than later, and Sevilla fans knew that based on the team's spending habits, they would not have a hot coach like Juande within their ranks for much longer. But no one thought that he would leave that soon. By the time October rolled around, Spurs was taking out their checkbook looking for their savior and instead they got a coach that outside of a Carling Cup, didn't give the club much of anything.

Players go around kissing crests as they do changing underwear. Robinho would kiss Real Madrid's jersey at the end of the season and it seemed like their love affair was back on track. That was only the case for a few months as he packed his bags and went to England. One of the first things he did was- you guessed it- kissed the Manchester City crest.

This is why they will be hurling the "Juan Dollar" bills out on the pitch that evening. I doubt it will hurt as much as the bottle that hit him in the head a few years back during a Copa del Rey match against Sevilla's arch-rivals Real Betis.


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