Before tiny Spanish club Eibar won your hearts, another plucky underdog threatened to upend the European club hierarchy: Villareal CF. Nicknamed “The Yellow Submarine,” the club from the province of Castellon has been around since 1923 and still plays in the same stadium, La Ceramica (formerly El Madrigal). The club didn’t taste the first division until 1998, but made a huge impression in La Liga in the early 2000’s.
This is the tale of their amazing 2006 season.
While Barcelona and Real Madrid normally rule the roost in Iberia, even the big clubs experience fallow periods. In the early 2000’s, as Valencia nicked a few La Liga titles, Barcelona struggled in the window after Cruyff’s “Dream Team” and before Riijkaard and Ronaldinho turned things around. At Real Madrid, Florentino Perez’s disastrous Galacticos policy coupled with Vanderlei Luxemburgo’s ineffective “magical boxes” made Real Madrid look pedestrian.
Meanwhile the little club in Castellon took a few risks, and they paid massive dividends. First, they signed an up-and-coming South American manager by the name of Manuel Pellegrini. The Chilean had experienced success in Argentina with River Plate, but was still an unknown quantity in Europe. Other South American coaches, notably Carlos Bianchi of Boca Jrs, had struggled to replicate club level success in Europe.
The rock at the heart of Villareal’s midfield was Marcos Senna, signed from small Brazilian club Sao Caetano in 2002. Senna struggled his first two years in La Liga and got little playing time, but blossomed in his third year.
Of course, Senna’s growth was aided by Villareal’s other two South American signings, cast aways from large clubs: Juan Roman Riquelme and Diego Forlan. FC Barcelona had signed Riquelme for 11 million euros, but Lous Van Gaal—the man who would later lead Manchester United to FA cup glory and Europa League qualification—did not rate Roman. Thus, Roman was loaned to the Yellow Submarine.
Diego Forlan’s time at Manchester United was unremarkable but for one infamous spat with Sir Alex Ferguson. The Scot had told Diego to wear a certain type of cleats because the wet field would be muddy. Diego failed to wear the cleats, slipped during the game, got berated in the locker room, and Sir Alex tossed the boots at him. After that, Forlan was more than happy to relocate to Spain, and while clubs there sometimes try the manguerazo, the normally sunny weather usually means dry and slip-free surfaces.
For Villareal, Diego Forlan was the mobile, fire hot tip of an attacking spear. He could spring the offside trap, play the one-two, finish with aplomb, and launch mortars from outside the box. Just check out this golazo:
He won the pichichi in 2005 for Villareal, and scored hat-tricks seemingly at will.