The invasion of 14,000 Sevilla fans to Glasgow for the forthcoming UEFA Cup final may not match the hysterical occupation of their own city by Celtic supporters four years ago, but the Spanish visitors are intent on creating a similarly colourful cavalcade. George Square has already been earmarked as a gathering place for supporters attending the May 16 showpiece, with fellow Spanish finalists Espanyol also set to bring a sizeable contingent.

An estimated 80,000 Celtic fans converged on the southern Spanish city for their memorable meeting with Porto in 2003 and momentum is building nicely ahead of this year's final at Hampden Park. Jose Cruz, the chief executive of Sevilla, afforded himself a wry smile when asked for his memories of the green-and-white masses. The Celtic fans picked up a UEFA and FIFA fair play award for their conduct in 2003 and Cruz hopes the behaviour of their supporters in Glasgow will make it a similarly enriching experience.

"I remember perfectly the UEFA Cup final of 2003," he smiled. "Welcoming the fans of Celtic and Porto was a very nice experience for everyone connected with the city of Seville. Celtic took many more supporters than Porto - probably three times as many - which was surprising since Portugal is only next door and Celtic fans had further to travel.

"I have an image that sticks in my mind of looking down and seeing the Celtic supporters swarming across the city, getting on and off buses, and drinking a lot of beer. But they were not causing any problems for anyone. Far from it.

"Sevilla supporters are not exactly the same as Celtic fans because we do not have the same experience of travelling in Europe. Like the Celtic fans, our fans will not be causing any problems in Scotland.

"I hope the Celtic fans will be supporting us in the final. We would love to create something similar to what Celtic have created - to become a recognised name across the world; to have supporters everywhere calling Sevilla their second team. We hope to leave Glasgow with the UEFA Cup and a lot of new friends."

Sevilla are a remarkable success story, a club who have risen from the brink of bankruptcy in the Spanish second division, to the higher echelons of La Liga.

Remarkably, they have done so by selling off their best talent. It started with Jose Antonio Reyes to Arsenal and continued in the summer of 2005 with the sale of Sergio Ramos and Julio Baptista to Real Madrid.

Amazingly, they have continued to go from strength-to-strength. Last year, they won the UEFA Cup, thrashing Middlesbrough 4-0 in the final and ending a 58-year trophy drought, then won the European Super Cup by overcoming Barcelona 3-0. They are currently just one point behind the Catalan club in La Liga.

"We are having a very good season," added Cruz. "We are in a nice position in the championship and in the Spanish Cup. It's a historic year for us and we want to win the UEFA Cup again. All season our fans have been dreaming about reaching the final in Glasgow.

"We have built up a lot of European experience in the last year and could be in the Champions League next season. The UEFA Cup has been paramount to us. We were in bad financial problems and were in the second division three years ago. The money to save us did not all come from the UEFA Cup runs but it has helped.

"We also made cutbacks and we made good money selling Reyes to Arsenal, Julio Baptista to Real Madrid and Sergio Ramos to Barcelona. We were lucky that we sold these players and three years down the line have better ones in our team. We have gone from the brink of bankruptcy to officially being the best team in the world last season."

Final facts
ESPANYOL

  • Formed in 1900 by an engineering student in Barcelona University.
  • Espanyol were the first club in Spain founded by Spaniards; the older clubs were all established by foreigners.
  • As well as football, they have a basketball club, a hockey team and a volleyball club.
  • They are the sixth most successful team in Spain in terms of trophies won.
  • Their ground, Estadi Olimpic Lluis Companys, hosted the 1992 Olympics.
  • They originally played in yellow strips because a friend of the club founder owned a textile business and had leftover yellow material.
  • They now play in blue and white because those colours are on the shield of celebrated sailor Admiral Roger de Lluria, who protected Catalonia in the Middle Ages.
  • The crown in their badge was granted in 1912 by Spain's King Alfonso XIII
  • During the Franco era, Espanyol were widely known as sympathetic to his cause in complete contrast to FC Barcelona.
  • They changed their name in 1995 to Real Club Deportiu Espanyol de Barcelona, the Catalan version of their original name.

SEVILLA

  • Formed in 1905 by the Civil Governor of Seville and played their first match three years later.
  • In 1946, Sevilla won their first and only La Liga title.
  • Two years later, the club won its third and so-far last Spanish Cup beating Celta Vigo.
  • Their big city rivals, Real Betis, were formed in 1909 after a split in the Sevilla boardroom over payments for players.
  • Their fans are known as Biris - named after Gambian player Alhaji Momodo Nije, who was nicknamed Biri-Biri.
  • Their ground, Sanchez Pizjuan Stadium, is named after its former president and has a capacity of 45,500, with a waiting list for season tickets.
  • Sevilla are owned by their fans, with the stocks distributed across a few major holders and a large base of fans
  • They were reputedly the first team in the world to employ sport psychologists.
  • During a Copa del Rey tie in February, their players walked off the pitch in protest at a Real Betis fan throwing a missile and knocking out manager Juande Ramos.
  • Former Rangers manager Jock Wallace was in charge of Sevilla between 1986 and 1987.