Villarreal CF, a Spanish football club, has played in European football since 2002, in the Intertoto Cup, UEFA Cup, Champions 🏧 League, Europa League, Europa Conference League and UEFA Super Cup. The club won their first Europa League title in 2024.
History 🏧 [ edit ]
2005–06 UEFA Champions League [ edit ]
The 2005–06 season brought the club considerable European success and recognition, due 🏧 to their consistent performances in the Champions League. In the qualifying round stage, Villarreal controversially defeated English side Everton with 🏧 a 4–2 aggregate score with two 2–1 victories. In the group stage, Villarreal were to be in the same group 🏧 as Portuguese champions Benfica, French club Lille, and England's Manchester United. Remaining undefeated throughout the group stage, Villarreal were twice 🏧 victorious (1–0 each against Benfica away and Lille at home) and earned four draws, including two scoreless draws with Manchester 🏧 United. They topped their group and progressed to the knock-out stages along with Benfica. The club progressed to the quarter-finals 🏧 in their Champions League debut by defeating the Scottish club Rangers 3–3 on the away goals rule (a 2–2 draw 🏧 in Glasgow and a 1–1 draw at home gave the Spanish side one more away goal than their opponents).
El Submarino 🏧 Amarillo drew Italian giants Inter Milan in the quarter-finals of the Champions League. The first leg was played at the 🏧 San Siro on 29 March 2006, where Villarreal's Diego Forlán scored inside the first minute of the match, but Villarreal 🏧 lost 2–1 as Inter took a lead to the return leg at El Madrigal on 4 April. Villarreal, however, continued 🏧 their unbeaten home record in the Champions League after winning the second leg 1–0 to qualify for the semi-finals on 🏧 the away goals rule (the tie ended 2–2 on aggregate, but because of Forlán's goal in Milan, Villarreal advanced). During 🏧 that game, left-back Rodolfo Arruabarrena turned a back header from Juan Román Riquelme free kick past Inter goalkeeper Francesco Toldo 🏧 to score the decisive goal of the tie. In the semi-finals, Villarreal narrowly lost out to Arsenal on a 1–0 🏧 aggregate scoreline following Arsenal goalkeeper Jens Lehmann's save of Riquelme's last-minute penalty.
2008–09 Champions League [ edit ]
The club automatically qualified 🏧 for the 2008–09 Champions League after finishing second in La Liga the previous season. They drew Manchester United, for the 🏧 second consecutive campaign; Celtic; and Aalborg BK. They made a good start by holding current European champions United to a 🏧 goal-less draw at Old Trafford, a third 0–0 draw in a row against the English giants. A first win was 🏧 sealed on 30 September by beating Gordon Strachan's Celtic 1–0 at El Madrigal, courtesy of a Marcos Senna free-kick. On 🏧 21 October, during a Champions League match against Aalborg, they won 6–3. The Spaniards went through to the knock-out stage 🏧 after drawing 2–2 with Aalborg in Denmark and drawing goalless once again against Manchester United, though they lost to an 🏧 already eliminated Celtic in the last group stage match.
In the knock-out stage, they faced Panathinaikos, who left Villarreal with a 🏧 1–1 away advantage, despite this the Greeks were to lose 1–2 in Athens. Villarreal reached the quarter-finals for the second 🏧 time in two tries, and were once again paired with Arsenal. The first leg saw a 1–1 draw by a 🏧 free-kick by Marcos Senna, equalised by an Emmanuel Adebayor volley. Theo Walcott, Emmanuel Adebayor and Robin van Persie secured a 🏧 3–0 win for Arsenal on the return, knocking Villarreal out of the tournament.
2009–10 Europa League [ edit ]
For the 2009–10 🏧 season, Villarreal competed in the Europa League, defeating NAC Breda of the Netherlands by a 2–9 aggregate victory in a 🏧 qualifier. They shared Group G with Levski Sofia, who they defeated 1–0 in the opening game, and with Lazio and 🏧 Red Bull Salzburg. They came second in that group, behind Red Bull. Consequently, Villarreal was drawn against VfL Wolfsburg (who 🏧 had dropped out of the Champions League) in the round of 32. Playing at home first, Villarreal secured a 2–2 🏧 draw, but in the return leg at Wolfsburg's Volkswagen Arena, Villarreal would succumb to defeat by a 4–1 scoreline.
2010–11 Europa 🏧 League [ edit ]
Despite finishing outside of a European qualifying spot in the domestic league, Villarreal was given a place 🏧 in the qualifying round of the Europa League after UEFA determined that Mallorca's financial irregularities precluded them from taking part 🏧 in the tournament.
A 5–0 home win and a 2–1 away win against Dnepr Mogilev qualified them for the group stage. 🏧 Villarreal suffered an early setback following a shock 2–0 loss in their away fixture against Dinamo Zagreb. Despite this, however, 🏧 wins against Dinamo, Club Brugge and PAOK saw them top their group.
After beating Napoli, Bayer Leverkusen and Twente in the 🏧 knockout phases, Villarreal qualified for the semi-finals to face tournament favourites Porto. After taking a 1–0 lead at the Estádio 🏧 do Dragão, Porto made a remarkable turnaround that ended in a 5–1 defeat for Villarreal. Although Villareal won the second 🏧 leg with a 3–2 win, Porto's first leg goals saw them advance to the final to eventually defeat Braga, finishing 🏧 as champions. Giuseppe Rossi finished as the tournament's second top goalscorer with eleven goals, behind Porto's Radamel Falcao.
Beginning of the 🏧 2024s: The European Fairytale [ edit ]
Having missed Europe during the 2024–20 season after finishing 14th in La Liga, Villarreal 🏧 played their first European match of the decade on 22 October 2024, beating Sivasspor 5–3 at home in the Europa 🏧 League. They would finish first in their group, ahead of Qarabağ, Maccabi Tel Aviv and Sivasspor, before knocking out Red 🏧 Bull Salzburg 4–1 on aggregate, Dynamo Kyiv 4–0 on aggregate, Dinamo Zagreb 3–1 on aggregate and Arsenal 2–1 on aggregate. 🏧 On 26 May 2024, Villarreal beat Manchester United 11–10 on penalties after a 1–1 draw in the final, winning not 🏧 only their first major trophy but also their first European trophy (excluding the UEFA Intertoto Cup). This win granted Villarreal 🏧 a place in the 2024–22 UEFA Champions League group stage and to the 2024 UEFA Super Cup, which they lost 🏧 to Chelsea 6–5 on penalties after a 1–1 draw.
On 14 September 2024, Villarreal played their first UEFA Champions League match 🏧 in the group stage since 2011, a 2–2 draw to Atalanta. With three wins, one draw and two defeats, they 🏧 managed to finish second of their group and qualify to the round of 16. In the knockout phase, Villarreal played 🏧 Juventus in the round of 16, and knocked them out after drawing 1–1 at home before winning 3–0 away. Villarreal 🏧 then played Bayern Munich in the quarter-finals, and knocked them out as well after winning 1–0 at home and drawing 🏧 1–1 away, reaching their best record in the competition, the semi-finals, as they did in the 2005–06 season. Unfortunately for 🏧 Villarreal, their fairytale ended at this stage of the competition, by losing 5–2 on aggregate to Liverpool.
Overall record [ edit 🏧 ]
Accurate as of 14 December 2024
Legend: GF = Goals For. GA = Goals Against. GD = Goal Difference.
Matches [ edit 🏧 ]
