Gunnerblog

Reflections on Villarreal

Add comment April 13th, 2009

The trip to Villarreal started in somewhat surreal circumstances, and so it continued. Boarding a train to the airport, three elderly Irish people were discussing the overground train with a degree of wonderment:

“Doesn’t pull off as quickly as the tube, does it?”

“No… you need to watch your guard with those doors though.”

“Oh aye. Deadly.”

I’m not sure of exactly how many elderly Irish people have been slain by the sliding doors of the First Capital Connect carriages, so I won’t quibble with the “deadly” remark. Nonetheless, the degree of awe with which the mundane details of public transport were discussed seems a fitting encapsulation of the disparity between expectation and reality that my trip brought to light: I travelled hoping to slay a European giant and returned in disbelief at just how a club as tiny as Villarreal has achieved such a degree of success.

Having landed in Barcelona, after spending two hours having my legs crushed in what Easyjet term a “seat”, getting to Villarreal itself was the next challenge. And quite a challenge it proved. My brother had booked and paid for a hire-car, but we had both rather foolishly left our credit cards at home, meaning we were unable to sign a contract to guarantee the car. This left us flailing around for two hours, making several calls to England, trying to get a friend or family member to travel to a London branch of the car rental service and guarantee the vehicle on our behalf. Eventually we were bailed out. Not only did we now have the car, but if we crashed it we wouldn’t be the ones charged – Result!

There followed a three-hour drive to Villarreal, in which I think we were charged more in toll fees than the price of the rental car itself. The main part of the journey was spent searching through radio stations in the vain hope that we might come across a recognisable track. This led to one particularly embarrassing moment when my brother celebrated the commencement of “If I Was A Boy” by Beyconce Knowles with a clenched fist and shouts of “Yes!”. (In his defence, there had been a lot of Hispanic warbling and tingle-tanging guitars in the preceding half-hour.)

Upon reaching Villarreal, it was all too easy. We parked just a couple of hundred yards from the ground, and strolled into a friendly bar by the somewhat absurd name of “Bar of the Witch’s Submarine”. Its exterior walls were decorated with a picture of a witch. Riding a submarine. Those crazy Spanish, eh.

I should point out that our parking feat is not as great as it sounds: everywhere in Villarreal is within a couple of hundred yards of the ground. It is absolutely tiny. I mentioned the club being smaller than I expected, and that is no reflection on the team – the town itself is just incredibly small. Comparing it to my own local area, it’s a bit like Borehamwood FC being a Champions League outfit. The ground itself is also small by top-flight standards, with a capacity of just over 20,000.

One stand, however, is preposterously high, and as the pictures make clear, it’s here that the Arsenal fans were penned in. Those near the front had a glass wall to see through rather than the gauzey fencing that filtered my view, but I have to say I soon forgot it was even there.

Villarreal were excellent in the first half, and Marcos Senna was bossing it. It’s a big bonus for us that he’ll miss the second leg, especially seeing as it removes the risk of him cracking in another goal from distance as he did out in Spain. The announcer left us in no doubt as to who had scored, yelling:

“MARCOS – MARCOS – MARCOS – MARCOS – MARCOS –

SENNA – SENNA – SENNA – SENNA – SENNA!!!”

But in spite of the injury problems we suffered, we fought back into it, and Adebayor’s goal was just magical. It was a fitting strike for a Champions League Quarter-Final, and another indicator that his form is returning at the crucial end of the season. Indeed, the goal saw him dubbed “El Dandy” (see right) by the following morning’s edition of AS.

The atmosphere was great, and as far as I’m aware the Arsenal fans were impeccably behaved, as you’d expect. What’s more, Villarreal and Arsenal fans mingled with no sense of animosity at all. Granted, they didn’t have much choice but to cross paths in a town as small as this, but it went entirely without a hitch.

The journey back involved more toll fees, more Beyonce, and the disappearance of a pack of twelve rather delicious magdalenas.

I believe it was a good result, but the tie is still very much in the balance. Whilst Adebayor’s precious away goal means a 0-0 would take us through, playing for such a result is almost inviting disaster – especially with our weakened backline. I think we’ll start with Adebayor, Van Persie, Nasri and Walcott, and hope to blow Villarreal away early on. It is a huge, huge week we have ahead of us. Yesterday brought more good news in the league as Everton and Aston Villa cancelled each other out in a thrilling match, but attention now turns to the two cup competitions which still offer us a chance of silverware this season.  It’s going to be some ride. Brace yourselves.