EVER BANEGA is one of the most successful players in the Europa League having won the competition three times.
During his career has been able to knock out Manchester United of European football on two different occasions.
The Argentine midfielder haunted the Red Devils in the Champions League quarter-finals in 2018 and in the Europa League semi-finals in 2020.
Banega, 34, will be hoping to make it a hat-trick as Sevilla take on Man United in the Europa League quarter-finals second leg tonight at the Ramon Sanchez-Pizjuan Stadium.
The first leg ended 2-2 at Old Trafford as United threw away a two-goal lead in the last ten minutes of the game.
However, Banega’s life has not just been full of football highs as he has hit headlines for antics off the pitch.
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In 2008 after moving to Valencia from Boca Juniors he was caught on webcam performing a sexual act on himself, which led to him hitting the Spanish newspapers.
He was able to move on from the incident with his form on the pitch despite the side struggling under manager Ronald Koeman.
However, it did not take long for him to hit the headlines for the wrong reasons again after he was pulled over by police in March that year.
The club statement at the time did not hold back on blame for the midfielder.
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It read: “Banega committed a traffic offence last night and as a result was given an alcohol test where he gave a positive [test].
“Until the details of the incident become clear, Valencia will not make any comment.”
The player was then allegedly involved training ground incidents with alcohol issues which lead to him being loaned to Atletico Madrid.
After this spell away from the club, Banega came back to a very different Valencia team that boasted the likes of Juan Mata, David Villa and David Silva.
This allowed Banega to benefit and show his true abilities with the ball.
However, problems arose again as in 2012 he was run over by his own car.
The incident happened at a petrol station as his car reportedly rolled back after a handbrake failure and crushed his leg leaving him needing ankle surgery and a long stint on the sidelines.
Things never picked back up for Banega at Valencia and in 2014 he moved Sevilla and quickly found his best form.
He won the Europa League back to back in his first two seasons, including beating Liverpool in the final in 2016.
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After a year at Inter Milan, Banega returned to the LaLiga club and won the competition again in 2020, beating the Italian side in the final.
It was during this run that they knocked out the Red Devils in the semis 2-1 on aggregate.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
