When he finally emerged and sat down in the warm spring Seville sunshine for just shy of an hour for this interview, the affection he has for his boyhood club could not have been plainer.
One of the greatest characters in the game, his talents go far beyond his performances on the field.
During the course of the campaign ā they also played in the ā both players received roughly the same number of minutes and scored a similar total of goals.
He was loving life in every sense.
Yunus Musah missed Valencias fourth spot-kick to give Betis a 5-4 win on penalties.
The forward was invited onto Spanish talk show El Hormiguero a couple of years ago.