Villarreal 2006: where the Champions League semifinalists are now

Villarreal defeated Bayern Munich 2-1 in a two-match clash this year to repeat their major UEFA Champions League achievement of reaching the semi-finals after 16 years.

The Spanish club performed a real miracle, knocking out the formidable Bayern from the Champions League. You can bet on Emery’s team to surprise the soccer community even more and make it to the finals, on betway co za. In the 2005/06 season, the magic ended one step away from the decisive stage.

The Yellow Submarine began their European Cup campaign 16 years ago with qualification, where they beat David Moyes’ Everton 4-2 on aggregate. In the group stage, the Spaniards finished first in the group with Manchester United, Benfica and Lille, although they scored only 3 goals in 6 rounds: winning 1-0 twice, playing to a 1-1 draw and 0-0 three times.

Villarreal made it to the playoffs twice thanks to the away goal rule: beating Rangers (2-2 away, 1-1 at home) and Inter (1-2 away, 1-0 at home).

The Spanish side were 0-1 up after their game in England for the second leg against London’s Arsenal. On 90 minutes, the referee awarded a penalty kick to the Canaries, but the legendary Riquelme failed to convert it.

Juan Roman is now vice-president of his native Boca Juniors. And what happened to the other heroes of that match at the Estadio de la Ceramica?

Goalkeeper Mariano Barbosa ended his career at Villarreal in 2020, although he stopped playing regularly back in 2017.

Rodolfo Arruabarrena played on the left in defence. He finished his professional career five years later and became the head coach of the UAE national team in February of this year.

Kike Alvarez and Juan Peña made up the link in the centre of defence. The former also became a coach, from January 2019 to June 2020 he worked as an assistant to Javier Calleja at Villarreal, now out of work. The latter took a job as an expert on Bolivian television.

Javi Venta, who ran on the right flank of defence, is into marathon running, at 46 he dreams of running the New York City Marathon.

Josico became a soccer coach, having had time to work for several clubs in the lower Spanish divisions. Until December 2021, he was in charge of Socuellamos of Spain’s fourth strongest division.

Josico’s midfield partner Marcos Senna became the club’s ambassador and president of the Kick Out Plastic Foundation.

Riquelme, who did not score the decisive penalty, played on the right flank of midfield in that match, while Juan Pablo Sorín, who now works as a commentator, analyst and blogger, ran on the opposite wing. He is engaged in the development of women’s soccer in Latin America.

Forlan and Franco were the attacking liaison in that squad. Diego Forlan still played soccer for a long time and managed to mark appearances in the championships of Japan, Hong Kong and India, where he scored for Mumbai City in 2016. After his playing career ended, he became a coach, coaching Atenas of Uruguay’s second division until September 2021, and now appears on television.

Guillermo Franco finished his career in 2013, and in 2021 he decided to take up coaching and headed the youth team of Mexican Monterrey, where he still works.

The coach of that Villarreal was Manuel Pellegrini. Since then he has managed Real Madrid, Malaga, Manchester City, Hebei China and West Ham with varying degrees of success, before taking charge of Betis in the summer of 2020.

This season, the club from Seville, under the direction of the Chilean specialist, has made neutral fans fall in love with itself. The team, modest in comparison with the Spanish giants, topped the La Liga standings for some time and is now fighting hard to qualify for the Champions League next season. After 31 rounds, the Andalusians have 56 points, only 1 point behind Atletico and 4 points behind Barcelona and Sevilla.