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 🫰 ]
