Baptista anticipates Sevilla thriller

By Claire Nash

He is known as The Beast but his smile is rivalling Ronaldo's as he leads Sevilla FC's re-emergence on the European stage.

Key figure
Julio Baptista has been a key figure in Sevilla's long-awaited return to Europe in their centenary year. A member of Brazil's Copa América-winning squad, the man bought as a defensive midfield player scored 20 goals in 30 games to secure the Spanish side's UEFA Cup slot.

Trophy target
Ahead of tonight's match against AEK Athens FC, he underlined Sevilla's determination to make their presence felt in the latter stages of the competition. "We would love to win the trophy and are determined to keep our run going in the competition," Baptista told uefa.com. "The team have returned to the competition after many years and we want to continue to build on our success in domestic competition."

Caution urged
That said, the 22-year-old urged caution. Sevilla, who are unbeaten in Group H, are up against an AEK side looking to collect their first points in the section after two straight defeats and Baptista said: "We will not get carried away. It won't be easy as there are many other good teams left in the competition. Our main rivals will be the other Spanish clubs including Villarreal [CF] and of course there are many other threats including Middlesbrough [FC], [SL] Benfica, Besiktas [JK] and [FC] Schalke [04]."

Porto standard
Yet there is little doubt that Sevilla - who are presently sixth in the Primera División - have drawn inspiration from FC Porto's trailblazing back-to-back UEFA Cup and UEFA Champions League wins. Baptista said: "The benchmark for teams building towards success in the Champions League is Porto. They were not the fancied team when they won the UEFA Cup two years ago and it was the same last year when they went on to win the Champions League.

Team mentality
"I think it will take time for us to do the same. We are realistic but we are on track. It will be a dream if Sevilla can follow Porto. Our strengths are as a group. Everyone in this team is important. We have good individual players but we play well as a group. This is the key to our success."

Reyes' replacement
This collective purpose has helped Sevilla overcome the loss of José Antonio Reyes. Baptista believes the team were able to recover from Reyes's departure to Arsenal FC more easily than those supporters who daubed the walls of their Sánchez Pizjuan stadium with insults aimed at their former favourite.

'In the past'
Commenting on Reyes, the Brazilian said: "José Antonio was very important for us but that is now in the past now he is at Arsenal. We wished him well and are pleased to see him succeed in London. He is one of the stars of Arsène Wenger's team. He has a special quality and has a winning mentality. I'm not surprised he has settled so well in England. He is very open to people and knows perfectly well what he wants for himself. That is the best way to be."