La Liga feature: Sevilla coach Pablo Machin has enjoyed a meteoric rise in recent years

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April 20 2024, 07:30 PM

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Bengaluru, February 22: Sevilla FC coach Pablo Machin has enjoyed a meteoric rise in recent years and has undoubtedly been La Liga's one of the brightest coaching talents.

Just a few seasons ago, the 43-year-old took over a Girona side lurking near the bottom of Segunda Division (Spain's Second Division), but now finds himself leading Sevilla in the search for a return to the UEFA Champions League.

On October 7 Sevilla's 2-1 victory over RC Celta saw them rise to the top of
La Liga table. For Machin, this was an incredible, but not altogether surprising achievement.

When he took over Girona in 2014, they sat bottom of Segunda Division. In four years, he had risen an incredible 41 places in the national footballing pyramid.

Early setbacks

When things started to go well for the Spanish tactician they went really well, but his coaching story actually began back at the end of the 1990s.

After a knee injury forced him to retire as a player at the especially young age of 23, Machin went into coaching and spent over a decade working in the youth academy of his local club CD Numancia, in Soria.

As time went on he rose to serve as an assistant coach on the first-team staff and led the Numancia B team. In the summer of 2011, the then-36-year-old took over the first team. Two middle-of-the-road seasons followed, finishing 10th and then 12th and he decided to leave the club in 2013.

New challenge

The next challenge came in Catalonia when he received a call from Girona with 13 rounds of the 2013-14 season remaining.

The club believed Machin was the man to save them, and he thought so too. Girona took the top tier by storm in 2017-18, sitting as high as seventh with 10 weeks of the season to go and ultimately finishing 10th, earning some memorable results along the way as they defeated Real Madrid 2-1 at home and drew twice with Atletico Madrid.

Into big time

So impressive was his work at Montilivi that Sevilla came calling in the summer of 2018. It was too good an opportunity for the 43-year-old to turn down and he left for Andalusia, ready to start an early pre-season and to steer the Rojiblancos through their Europa League qualifiers.

More stunning results have been added to Machin's resume. His side have topped La Liga table at the end of three separate matchdays and now sit fourth, well in contention for a return to Europe's top club competition.