Barely had the Manchester United squad landed back in England before flights were being arranged for a fourth trip to Spain this season.
Erik ten Hag's side progressed past Real Betis and into the quarter-finals of the Europa League with relative ease, flying to Seville with a 4-1 aggregate lead tucked away in their luggage before Marcus Rashford fired home a fifth for good measure. A far from vintage performance at the Estadio Benito Villamarin produced the necessary result and little else.
By Friday lunchtime United knew of their opponents in the last eight, and as if by chance, it included another trip to southern Spain and a tie against Betis' great rivals, Sevilla.
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If United are to win the Europa League this year then Spanish success will play a leading role in their campaign. Their group stage was defined by the two games against Real Sociedad, defeat at home in the opening week eventually deciding their fate as second best, with a win in Basque country securing their place in the play-off round for the knockout stages.
Of the eight teams who fell from the Champions League, Ten Hag's side drew Barcelona in a fixture that was Champions League in all but name. United fought out a 2-2 draw at Camp Nou before a tense yet convincing 2-1 win back at Old Trafford the following week.
Betis next, then, and another ideal tie for Reds who either reside in Spain or enjoy an away-day there. Helped by the cushion of the three-goal lead, Rashford and Co were able to ride out an initial storm and calm the fervent 60,000-plus for a 1-0 win.
Two wins and a draw from three trips to Spain represents a stark contrast to United's recent record against teams from La Liga. Prior to this year's campaign, all of their last five knockouts in European competition have come at the hands of Spanish opposition.
Atletico Madrid in 2022, Villareal in the Europa League final in 2021, Sevilla in 2020, Barcelona in 2019 and Sevilla again in 2018. Since the turn of the century, United have lost to Barcelona, Real Madrid, Athletic Bilbao and Deportivo La Coruna on more than one occasion.
Spanish opposition so often presented a problem that United just could not solve. But this season's record and the performance's of Ten Hag's side in those games has banished that hoodoo already.
Sevilla are enduring a torrid domestic season, their model of selling their best talents and replacing them on the cheap seemingly catching up with them. They sit 13th going into the latest round of fixtures, just two points above the relegation zone and very much in a fight to stay up.
But this is also a team who have won four of the last six Europa League trophies and hold vast quantities of continental experience. Ten Hag and United will be under no illusions about the task at hand, a pressure that would have been heightened if it wasn't for recent Spanish success. One more positive result on Spanish soil would go a long way to securing a spot in the semi-finals.
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