Yellow Submarine Still Rising up La Liga

Rahul Rao

 

Ever since their promotion to La Liga in the 2000/2001 season, Villarreal have been rapidly ascending the Spanish football ladder. In just their first season in the First Division, Villarreal reached a 7^th place finish, and in the summer of 2003, Villarreal won its first piece of silverware in the form of the UEFA Intertoto Cup. This impressive form continued after reaching the UEFA Cup semi-finals in 2004 where the "Yellow Submarine” lost out to eventual winners and hated rivals Valencia.

In the 2004/2005 season, Villarreal C.F. achieved a historic third position in ‘Liga de las estrellas’ (La Liga). The club finished with 65 points, behind the giants of Barcelona and Real Madrid. This incredible accomplishment was based on a collective team spirit and the phenomenal goal scoring power of Diego Forlán whose 25 goals saw him awarded the “Pichichi” (prize for the most goals in La Liga, named after legendary Athletic Bilbao forward Pichichi) and the European Golden Boot as the most prolific goal-scorer in Spain and Europe respectively. Thus, "Yellow Submarine" qualified for the UEFA Champions League for the 2005/2006 season.

Villarreal were not in the Champions League just to make up the numbers and qualified for the knock-out stages by finishing top of their group, which included English giants Manchester United. Astoundingly this small team in Spain, which 16 years earlier were playing in the 4th division of Spanish football, beat the likes of Everton, Benfica, Lille, Rangers and Inter Milan to progress to the Champions League semi-final. Centered around the brilliant playmaker Juan Roman Riquelme, Chilean manager Manuel Pellegrini’s team reached the semi-finals of Europe’s premier competition, losing a place in the final to Arsenal only through a first-leg Kolo Toure tap-in. The dream had ended, but it would not be the last one.

Skip ahead to the 2007/2008 season. No Riquelme. No Sorin. No Diego Forlan. Many people had forgotten about Villarreal, despite their winning streak for the last stretch of 2006/2007 which saw them thrash Barcelona and brought them UEFA Cup qualification. Many journalists and critics predicted that Barcelona would blitz this season’s league with their so-called "Fantastic Four", with Real Madrid, Valencia, and a stylish looking Atletico Madrid side finishing up the top four. However, at the moment, Villarreal are riding high in La Liga in 3rd place, chasing Real Madrid and Barcelona at the top of the table, just like in 2004/2005.

Over the past few years, the team has kept their ethos of combining lesser-known players from South America but combined it with acquiring a host of experienced professionals such as Riquelme or Robert Pires, to perfect a balance of explosiveness and reliability, and this seems to have done the trick. Much like Arsenal, Villarreal have been making great signings along with playing beautiful attacking football. The pace of Nihat Kahveci and John Dahl Tomasson, along with the accurate finishing of Giuseppe Rossi and Guillermo Franco has been instrumental in surging the yellow submarine’s attack.

The defence of Spanish internationals Joan Capdevila and Angel Lopez marauding down the flanks, former Arsenal man Pascal Cygan, and the solid Fabricio Fuentes in front of Casillas’ former understudy, Diego Lopez is as solid as a rock.  Couple great forwards and a reliable defence with a midfield which includes the creativity of a rejuvenated Robert Pires, a slick Matías Fernández, and the consistency of Marcos Senna, and you have one classy outfit.

Much of the credit for Villarreal’s success also goes down to Head Coach Manuel Pellegrini. The manager, who was a target for Chelsea after its sacking of Jose Mourinho in the quest for "sexy football", has made the most of his limited budget. The summer signings of Rossi, Capdevila, and Diego Lopez have been instrumental in forging a new Villarreal side which used to be so dependent on the brilliance of Riquelme. Nihat and Rossi have 11 and 10 goals respectively in La Liga, forging a very fruitful partnership which lights up the 6th smallest stadium in the Primera Division week after week.

Pellegrini’s team not only demonstrates beautiful attacking football, but it does it with intelligence. The Chilean mastermind knows to never back down from the likes of Real Madrid, Barca, Valencia, or other European adversaries, and his team attacks from the get-go. Whenever they obtain the lead in the game they are reluctant to let it slip. They will control the ball, but unlike the likes of Chelsea, they will repetitively attack their opponents instead of lulling them to ‘sleep’ and then attacking them. While most clubs are conservative in their approach in playing the so-called “top-dogs” of their respective leagues, Villarreal play them as if they are one of them. However, this can backfire on occasion as it has in the past, as Villarreal do not have the same squad depth as the likes of Manchester United or Inter. 

While Villarreal haven’t been as consistent as some of the "super clubs" of Europe in their respective leagues, there is only one direction Villarreal is going: up!