Fermín López Returns to Spain Squad After Key Sevilla Victory
At the final whistle at the Sánchez Pizjuán, Fermín López didn’t just look relieved. He looked restored.
The La Masia product, back on familiar Andalusian soil not far from his hometown of El Campillo, walked off with three points in his pocket and something even bigger on the horizon: a return to the Spain squad. Luis de la Fuente has recalled the 23-year-old for the upcoming Nations League fixtures, a call-up that lands with extra force after a brutal summer.
A physical setback robbed him of a place at the 2026 World Cup. That hurt. He didn’t bother to disguise it.
“I am very happy to return to the national team. It was very hard not to go to the World Cup. I have started the season well and I am happy to return to the national team,” Fermín said, the repetition underlining just how much the shirt still means to him.
On this night, though, the spotlight inevitably swung to the man who decided the game.
Raphinha, the “unexpected nine”
Raphinha tore Sevilla apart. A ruthless hat-trick, three finishes that shredded a defence usually fuelled by their own crowd’s fury. Under Hansi Flick, the Brazilian has been pushed away from the touchline and into traffic, operating in central zones rather than hugging the flank.
That tweak has changed everything.
He now has 12 goals in seven matches, numbers that plant him firmly at the front of the early Pichichi race and recast him from chalk-on-his-boots winger to penalty-box predator.
“Raphinha is our unexpected number nine. It’s tremendous what Raphinha is doing. He is very good and he adapts to any position. We give him the passes and he scores the goals. He had never played as a center forward and he is putting up very good numbers,” Fermín noted, half in admiration, half in disbelief at how seamlessly the transformation has taken hold.
The goals told their own story. Raphinha drifted, darted, then struck, again and again, in the very zones where defenders hate to turn and face their own goal. Sevilla never really worked him out. By the time they adjusted, the damage was beyond repair.
Surviving the Sánchez Pizjuán
None of it came easily. It never does here.
Fermín underlined just how hostile the Sánchez Pizjuán can be when Sevilla smell blood. The noise, the pressure, the relentless duels – it all feeds a home side that lives off chaos.
“Sevilla puts a lot of pressure on us here at their stadium, and Raphinha’s three goals have been decisive. The manager asks us to be very intense, to press high after losing possession,” he revealed.
That last line goes straight to the heart of Flick’s blueprint. Lose the ball, win it back instantly. No drifting, no retreating, no waiting. The team squeezed high, hunted in packs, and tried to suffocate Sevilla’s build-up before it could even cross halfway. It was risky, but it fit the stage and the stakes.
For Fermín, that intensity is not just a tactical demand; it’s the platform for his own resurgence. A season that started with the sting of a missed World Cup now opens up with a Nations League chance and a growing role in a side that presses, runs, and plays on the edge.
On a fierce night in Seville, Raphinha walked away with the match ball. Fermín walked away with something just as valuable: the feeling that his story with Spain is only just getting started.
