Why Leicester vs Sevilla is the pick of the CL Last 16 ties

Death, taxes… and Bayern Munich versus Arsenal in the last 16 of the Champions League.

In recent years, Europe’s premier football competition has developed an unfortunate (or, if you’re a Bayern fan, fortunate) habit of somehow throwing up the same knockout ties virtually every season. The Emirates crowd are now no less accustomed to the sight of Thomas Muller slotting one past their goalkeeper than they are with fourth place in the Premier League.

PSG have been on the receiving end of this trend, too. Their Champions League aspirations were dashed by Barcelona in 2013 and 2015, and with Unai Emery so far struggling to turn the French champions into the continental power-house their owners dream of, another meeting with Messi and co probably isn’t going to end well.

Speaking of Emery, it’s the team he left behind that are threatening to turn Spain’s traditional two-horse race into a three-piece. Sevilla, now under the lively tutelage of former Chile boss Jorge Sampaoli, have taken Atletico’s place as La Liga’s surprise title contenders this season, and despite a tough draw in the Champions League – Los Rojilancos were paired with Juventus and Lyon in the group stage – they’re making a good fist of it in Europe, too.

Their opponents in the last 16? None other than last year’s runaway English champions Leicester, who despite a less than convincing title defence, have made an impressive start to life on the continent. They’ve won four of their first six games, comfortably topping a group including competition mainstays Porto (the team which did, admittedly, thrash a makeshift Foxes side in the final round – an aberration for which Ranieri’s men, having turned their attention to a relegation battle back home, can be forgiven).

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This is definitely one tie that we haven’t seen before: Leicester are embarking on their maiden season in the Champions League, while Sevilla – who lifted the Europa League three years running – have finally made it to the knockout stages after coming up just short in seasons past.

It’s a game that doesn’t carry quite the same glamour as Arsenal’s date with Bayern Munich, neither PSG’s with Barcelona, but it does pit against each other two of the teams which have helped define recent football history.

Sevilla, like England’s Southampton but on a much larger scale, are habituated to losing their best players to rival teams nigh-on every transfer window. Ever Banega, Gregorz Krychowiak and Kevin Gameiro – who found new homes at Inter, PSG and Atletico respectively – were the latest to jump ship this summer (along with their manager of three-and-a-half years), and yet the Spanish team have found a way to reinvent themselves yet again.

Leicester have already lived the domestic fairy-tale Sevilla may be on the brink of, having flagrantly disregarded the Premier League’s established order to deliver the most unlikely title win in a generation.

Their philosophy – led by wily veteran Claudio Ranieri – is an ostensibly simple one that brings the best out of every player: the long, angled balls of Fuchs and Huth, the deft brilliance of Mahrez, the penetrating runs of Vardy (and until Chelsea came along and ruined everything, the tireless mopping up work of Kante).

Stylistically, this could be one of the competition’s most intriguing match-ups. It’s devastating counter-attacking that has got Leicester this far, and while the form of their primary goal source is looking patchy, they showed against City that they pose an enormous threat to teams with a high defensive line.