Juan Carlos I to attend the Europa League final in Basel

It was confirmed late on Thursday that the Spanish royal family will be represented in next week's Europa League final between Liverpool and Sevilla in Basel.Former King Juan Carlos I has confirmed his presence at the game in the wake of criticism that the current monarch, Felipe VI would not be attending. Juan Carlos I has been present for some of the most important games involving Spanish clubs or the national team. The last final he attended was the Champions League final between Real Madrid and Atlético in Lisbobn two years ago.

Earlier this week Sevilla president José Castro, decried the lack of confirmation from the royal house that a member of the monarchy would be attending the game. In an event organized by AS on Monday, Castro lamented that the Andalucian club felt they had no support from the royals for the final, while Felipe VI had attended both semi-finals of the Champions League.

Diario AS contacted the royal house to find out why Felipe VI was not planning to attend the final and were told that the King had a packed agenda on 18th May, including events in Talavera de la Reina and Tomelloso and won't be free until 8pm that night.

Felipe VI will be present four days later for the Copa del Rey final between Sevilla and Barcelona at the Vicente Calderón. Don Felipe attended Sevilla's previous Europa League finals in Eindhoven (2006), Glasgow (2007) and Turin (2014) but was unable to be present for last year's final  in Warsaw, due to his commitments in a military exercise in Zaragoza. On that occasion, the royal house telephoned Castro as soon as the game was over to personally congratulate the club for their triumph.