Real Betis crowned kings of Seville again after winning the wildest of all derbies | Sid Lowe

There was a brief glint in the eye of everybody’s favourite cheeky scamp but for once he kept a straight face. Joaquín Sánchez had been talking about how happy he was – and happiness, he said, is fundamental – leaving just enough time for one more question as he stood there, post-match microphone pointing his way. It began with “now you rest” and it was ended there with a shake of the head, cut off quickly. It was late and they were exhausted but he was having none of it; although midnight had come, the night had only just begun. “There will be no rest tonight,” Betis’s captain shot back, deadpan. “Anyone who gets home before five in the morning gets fined.” And with that, he was gone again. Back to the party.

It was Twelfth Night and, oh, what a night. No one has played more La Liga games this century than Joaquín, the man who won one of only three titles in the club’s history, posing with the Copa del Rey wearing nothing but a grin, yet even for him the 127th edition of the Seville derby, probably Spain’s most passionate, was very special, the best of the 17 he has played: a “magical day,” according to the cover of ABC, “ecstasy,” according to Diario de Sevilla. Betis had beaten Sevilla 5-3 at the Sánchez Pizjuán and that too was historic, everyone said. “Betis make history,” ran Marca’s cover. AS called it a “historic little hand”, Estadio Deportiva a “huge feat”. “Betis burn Nervión,” claimed El País. Maybe not burn, but they’d taken it, that’s for sure.

Soon after 7pm, Sevilla’s bus had edged through the crowd, engulfed in smoke and noise. At the same time, Betis arrived silently on the other side of the stadium, a handful of people watching and whistling. “Out! Out!” they shouted, but five hours later they were still inside, long after their hosts had left. High in one corner, 600 béticos bounced; way below, players bounced with them. Joaquín, the boy who used to clamber out of his bedroom window and sneak to the bullring, performed passes with a Betis flag, Sergio Leon running at him like he’d run at the Sevilla defence, only this time he was snorting, had fingers for horns and with every pass supporters’ olés rang round.

Kings Day had come, when the three wise men – kings – arrived in Bethlehem bearing gold, frankincense and myrrh and Spaniards come bearing gifts. This was, as every report relentlessly, mercilessly repeated, the gift Betis fans wanted most. It was 10 months since the last derby, the game that the Sevilla captain Sergio Escudero likened to Star Wars. His coach, Vincenzo Montella, was making his league debut, which was some start. “It’s different,” he said. “Here, everyone supports Betis or Sevilla, not Madrid or Barcelona; it’s got a special feeling,” added Quique Setien, the Betis manager, the morning his team trained in front of 13,000. It was his first derby, too, although, suspended, he wasn’t going to be on the bench, sarcastically suggesting he might go to mass instead and watch it on the telly. “It will be extraordinary,” he said.

It turned out that it was. Before kick-off, the Final Countdown boomed round and 11 people walked on to the pitch carrying giant white letters to announce the arrival of EL GRAN DERBI, although by the time they lined up they seemed to be announcing a new signing named Elg Ra N’Derbi. In the tunnel, Betis’s players smoothed down their hair and stepped out as Sevilla’s anthem boomed, sung acapella. Lights flashed, the noise deafening, a huge banner covered the entire end, depicting the three kings. “We bring Sevilla football, honour and glory,” it said.

They’d barely had time to pack it away when the first goal went in. As the ball fell to Fabián, a 21-year old who joined the club at eight, the clock showed seconds. From 25 yards, he bent a wonderful shot into the corner, becoming the first sevillano to score in the derby since Varela over a decade ago and the fastest ever goalscorer Betis have had in this fixture. Only José Antonio Reyes, for Sevilla, has scored a derby goal sooner. And so, bang, it began.

“I couldn’t believe it,” Fabián said. “I’ve been playing derbies since I was eight, but none quite like this.” He was not alone: even if these two teams are a bit like this – this was the third time this season Sevilla have conceded five while Betis’s results now include two 2-2s, a 4-0 win, a 5-0 defeat, a 3-6, a 4-4 and a 5-3, accounting for the three highest-scoring games of the season – none of them had played a game quite like this. There had never, ever been a Seville derby in the first division with eight goals – the last time it had happened was in the Copa del Generalísimo, 55 years ago.

It started with the clock showing 00.21; it ended with it showing 94.55, not over until the very last kick. Between times, there were six other goals, two posts, 23 shots and nine cards. In the middle, Éver Banega played – he’s not “Superman,” able to do it all alone, one paper lamented – and so, particularly De Fabián, fabulous throughout, giving off an aura of talent and personality. Around them, the game flew. Mostly, it flew past the defences. It certainly flew past the goalkeepers: Antonio Adan and Sergio Rico didn’t make a save between them. Sevilla equalised in the 13th minute, through Ben Yedder; Betis were back in the lead eight minutes later, when Feddal came thundering through to thump in a header; and Sevilla were level once more six minutes before half-time, 2-2. And half-time was needed: there had barely been time to breathe.

An hour had gone and, somehow, there had been no more goals, when the board went up with Joaquín’s number on it. Betis had started to take control, playing from the back and finding a way through the pressure, and he later admitted he wasn’t happy when he saw that his time was up. He had provided the pass for both goals – only Messi, Alves and Xavi have now provided more assists this century in the league – but the change worked. Three minutes later, Betis had two more goals; and Christian Tello, the man who replaced him, proved decisive. “If I had known that, I would have asked to come off sooner,” Joaquín said.

The third goal was gorgeous, the expression of an identity. The ball was Betis’s for over a minute, every outfield player getting a touch, until eventually it was worked into the area on the right. There, inside the box, they exchanged passes four times until Boudebouz clipped a wonderfully weighted pass beyond the crowd and into the run of Durmisi, the full-back, sneaking in by the far post. A minute later, Betis had their fourth, Tello slipped a ball through for Sergio Leon to nudge past Rico. But it still wasn’t over. Up in a private box, Setien was suffering. “You’re in a cage, there’s so much tension,” he said later. Sevilla made it 3-4 through Lenglet, with 23 minutes still to go. N’Zonzi hit the bar. And with barely seconds left, Sevilla had one last chance.

The board had gone up with five minutes on it. Sergio Rico went up too. A free kick from the right was swung in on 94.38. Headed away, Banega went to try again, near the half way line. Tackled, suddenly Tello was heading towards the Sevilla goal. So too was Rico, sprinting back, the two of them running in the same direction, only the goalkeeper had a head start. Some screamed for Tello to shoot, but instead he ran and kept running – all the way into the area, where he slotted it in at the near post. At 94.55 it was 3-5. Tello raced to the corner, as his team-mates raced off the bench and on to the pitch, leaping about. In the din, the final whistle went unheard but not unfelt.

The celebration was wild, like they’d won a title. A scarf appeared from somewhere, then a flag. Shirts were stripped off. Quietly, Sergio Leon approached a Sevilla fan, a friend in the front row of the main stand, almost empty now, and shook his hand. Behind him, everyone else was going bananas.

“I don’t know why but I had a feeling that we could do something great,” Joaquín admitted. But even he didn’t expect this. Sevilla had not been beaten at home since 2016, a run going back 29 games, and they had not lost any of the last eight derbies. The record read: six wins, two draws, aggregate score: 19-5. El Diario de Sevilla noted that since they had been publishing, there had been 36 derbies and only five Betis wins. . In 32 games against Sevilla, Joaquín had only beaten them six times; in his 17 derbies, he had only ever won twice before. Now, they had scored five – “a little hand,” a goal for each finger – and away from home. For the first time ever.

“It’s hard to take,” Ben Yedder admitted. Montella had called Betis the favourites as a joke, what with favourites never winning derbies and all that. It turned out he was right. He could not have got off to a worse start. “It makes me very sad,” he said.

It made Betis happy. “One day they’ll realise what they have done,” said Rafa Gordillo, perhaps the most important player in the club’s history. But they seemed to realise already. “I can retire happy!” Joaquín grinned. “Viva Betis, fucking hell!” tweeted Javi García.. And every paper everywhere went all Christmas cliché on them, barely a report failing to open on the men in Bethlehem. “The Kings come in green and white,” Marca said.

Sergio Leon, born in Seville and a Betis youth teamer who played just one game for the first team, in 2010, until they signed him this summer was celebrating his 28th birthday. “I thought of my father, rest in peace, who I wish could have seen me,” he said, eyes prickling. “I dedicate this to him. Forget Kings, forget presents, this is the only thing I could have ever asked for.” Then he turned to the camera and delivered a message to the fans: “Enjoy Kings Night!”

Oh, they would. Under the stand, Setien and Sarabia embraced, ducking behind the gate and slipping away quietly, unseen, before travelling back to Heliópolis where the rest of the supporters were waiting. “This is incredible, I can’t describe it. Never in my wildest dreams did I think this would happen. I’ve never seen anything like it in my life,” Setien said. “The passion they have is moving.” The party had only just begun and it would run until dawn, by order.

Talking points

• Diego Distilled: a goal, an elbow, and a red card on his debut at the Wanda. He had already marked his return with a goal, an injury scare and an air of menace; now he marked his first start with battles at every turn and another goal – which he celebrated by climbing into the crowd, a picture of innocence when he came back down the stairs to see the red card facing him. “It’s the right decision,” Diego Simeone said, but Lucas said Costa didn’t know. “That rule doesn’t exist in England,” he claimed. Still, despite the red card, everyone was delighted with Diego. Suddenly, Atlético are scary again. Which is pretty much what they hoped to be. “He transmits fear,” Simeone said.

• “Bye-bye Madrid, bye-bye.” Sports cover was as classy as ever. It was also probably right, mind. A 3-0 win for Barcelona – Lionel Messi, Luis Suárez, Paulinho – against Levante and Madrid’s 2-2 draw at Vigo means that Zinedine Zidane’s team are now 16 points behind their rivals, who also have a nine-point lead over Atlético and an 11-point lead over Valencia. It is not like Madrid deserved more, either – although Gareth Bale was superb, scoring twice. In fact, they could count themselves fortunate that they were not defeated by a Celta side, led by the fantastic hyperactive, slightly wild Iago Aspas and by Daniel Wass. Even if Lucas Vázquez had a late chance to win it for Madrid late on, they had been turned over and it would have been undeserved, with Celta dominating the second half.

• Applause went around San Mamés. Out on the touchline, Yeray began his warm-up. He didn’t get on in Athletic’s 2-0 win over Alavés, but he will soon.

• You are the ref. You get in the way of a ball just before half-time, deflecting it into the path of an attacking player in a decent position near the penalty area. What do you do? Quickly blow for half-time to save your blushes and prevent the risk of a goal that’s going to be very hard to explain of course! At least, that’s what Estrada Fernandez did at Butarque, where Leganés beat la Real 1-0 on a cold Sunday morning.

• Marcelino was back as Valencia beat Girona 2-1, albeit with a neck brace on. He crashed his car while he was driving home for Christmas, after a wild boar ran across the road and hit him. “The three of us in that car were born again,” he said.

Results: Atletico 2–0 Getafe, Valencia 2–1 Girona, Las Palmas 1–2 Eibar, Sevilla 3–5 Betis, Leganés 1–0 Real Sociedad, Barcelona 3–0 Levante, Athletic 2– Alavés, Villarreal 1–1 Deportivo, Celta 2–2 Madrid. Monday night: Málaga-Espanyol.