Founded in 1923, Villarreal has never won La Liga with their best finish occurring in 2007-2008 when they ended the campaign in second place. The club won the now defunct Intertoto Cup in 2003 and 2004 while they have regularly appeared in the Champions League and Europa League over the past decade. While being relegated for the 2012/13 season, the Yellow Submarine was promoted at the end of the year.
Villarreal is always a side that provides entertainment and excitement on the pitch but just this week the club made news off of the field of play when they sacked Head Coach Fran Escriba after the Yellow Submarine fell to Getafe 4:0. The club appointed 39-year old Javier Calleja who had been coaching the Villarreal B side to take his place. Calleja played for the club between 1999-2006 and also featured for Malaga and Osasuna before retiring in 2012.
Calleja: .Villarrealcf.es ()
To get the Maccabi fans up to speed about their Europa League Matchday 2 opponent we spoke to a pair of La Liga experts, David Cartlidge a journalist for football magazine Four Four Two and @LaLigaGav who hosts the The Sound of La Liga Podcast.
Villarreal is filled with quality players who can impact a game, but there are a number of standouts says Cartlidge, “Samuel Castillejo is the main danger man going on form this season. He’s a live wire winger who joins the attack and can both create and assist. He must have a close eye kept on him at all times, though a few hard tackles can sometimes shake him off his game.”
Cartlidge added that another player to keep an eye on is Rodri Hernandez, “He’s a young midfielder but extremely talented. He’ll hold the team together, win the ball back and play simple, tidy passes through midfield into the attack.” @LaLigaGav looked at another pair of talents, “Cedric Bakambu from the Congo is a lovely player who has excelled since joining the club while Carlos Bacca who is on loan from AC Milan should have a very prominent season with Villarreal this year.”
Though there will be a new coach on the sidelines for the match the style of play has been consistent for years says @LaLigaGav, “Attack, attack, attack!! They’ve been playing a certain attacking style of football from as far back as I can remember.” Cartlidge chimed in as well, “Villarreal are tight defensively for the most part and they look to spring on the counter whenever possible. Expect them to be organized and tough to break down. On the counter they pose a lot of pace, skill and ability to be clinical given the quality of their strikers.”
.Villarrealcf.es ()
For a small city of only 50k residents Villarreal is an important part of its culture comments @LaLigaGav, “They’re passionate. Villarreal is a tiny district about an hour from Valencia yet their games are regularly attended by over 20k fans. They have fan clubs all over the world and are quite prominent in Scandinavia.” Cartlidge also mentioned, “The fans have become used to some good football over the years and are demanding in that sense. They can sometimes lack patience, and be a bit tetchy when things are not going well.“
When it comes to Villarreal’s chances against Maccabi the odds are stacked against the Yellow & Blue @LaLigaGav said, “Villarreal should in theory be beating a team like Maccabi quite comfortably, but I’d be very surprised if Villarreal don’t at least come away with a draw.” However the coaching issue could be an equalizer explains Cartlidge, “The coaching situation has thrown everything up in the air and made the task a lot more difficult for Villarreal. Saying that, they do have the individual quality to see this one out and pick up an important win – both in terms of the competition and confidence generally too.”
Fun Facts about Villarreal:
1) Villarreal’s nickname, The Yellow Submarine, does come after the Beatles song. Fans played the song on a record player in 1966 and chanted the words to it while watching Villarreal play.
2) It’s the second smallest town ever to produce a Champions League semi-finalist, after Monaco. In 2006 they had the likes of Diego Forlan, Riquelme and Senna and they lost to Arsenal when Riquelme missed a penalty near the end of the second leg.
3) Their youth system is one of the very best in Spain, if not Europe. The money they receive from TV money or transfers is generally pumped into its youth set up.
4) Club owner and Spanish billionaire Fernando Roig made his fortune in the local ceramics business and changed the name of the club’s home stadium from El Madrigal to La Cerámica to reflect the local industry. The stadium can also hold half of the city’s population.
