Aston Villa to play Sevilla for the Antonio Puerta Trophy at Sánchez-Pizjuán

On Friday evening Aston Villa will walk out at Sevilla's Ramon Sanchez-Pizjuan stadium to contest the Antonio Puerta Trophy, a friendly fixture that outside Spain few supporters are likely to recognise. The match is held in memory of former Sevilla academy player Antonio Puerta.

Puerta died in August 2007 at the age of 22 after suffering a cardiac arrest during a La Liga match against Getafe. He initially appeared to recover and walked to the dressing room, but collapsed again and died three days later in hospital. His death stunned Spanish football and prompted the club to memorialise one of their own.

Puerta made his first-team debut in the 2003-04 season and went on to record 88 appearances for Sevilla and one cap for Spain in 2006. During his short career he helped Sevilla win five trophies across a 15-month period, including two consecutive Uefa Cups. A year after his death Sevilla created a trophy in his honour.

What began as a relatively modest pre-season fixture has become an annual feature of Sevilla's calendar. Sevilla have won 12 of the previous 14 editions of the Antonio Puerta Trophy, with only Granada and Boca Juniors managing victories over the hosts. The early editions were contested solely by Spanish clubs before invitations were extended abroad.

Boca Juniors were the first overseas visitors in 2016, and since then the club have hosted Roma, Schalke, Independiente del Valle, Al-Ittihad and Al-Qadsiah. Those fixtures marked the competition's expansion beyond domestic opponents. The list of past invitees demonstrates the trophy's growing international reach.

Aston Villa are the first English club to be invited to play for the trophy. Villa boss Unai Emery will return to the Ramón Sánchez-Pizjuán stadium, where he enjoyed one of the most successful spells of his managerial career. Emery managed Sevilla between 2013 and 2016, winning the Europa League three times in succession.

Villa's Leon Goretzka has travelled to Sevilla after a knee injury and so could be available to play. Striker Brian Madjo is also available after being out since Villa's 2-1 loss to Paris St-Germain in the Uefa Super Cup in August. Taylor Harwood-Bellis will also look to get more minutes in the fixture.

The meeting at the Ramón Sánchez-Pizjuán will be held on Friday evening and represents the 15th edition of the Antonio Puerta Trophy. Sevilla will host Aston Villa for the commemorative friendly.