There is clearly an odd one out in the semi-finals of this season’s Champions League. While three of the final four are among the biggest clubs in the European game right now in Liverpool, Manchester City and Real Madrid, Villarreal are a club of modest size based in a city of just over 50,000 inhabitants. Their run to this stage of soccer’s most prestigious club competition is an anomaly.
Many presumed Bayern Munich, not Villarreal, would complete this season’s semi-final line up. Julian Nagelsmann team had strolled through the Champions League group stages and saw off Red Bull Salzburg with aplomb in the round of 16. They were expected to sweep aside Villarreal too.
However, the Yellow Submarine sunk the German champions with a 2-1 aggregate victory that highlighted the quality of the team Unai Emery has built. Villarreal haven’t made the Champions League semi-finals by accident. They are a side tailored for continental competition and they could be Liverpool’s worst nightmare in the final four.
There will be a substantial gulf in individual talent between Liverpool and Villarreal when they meet on Wednesday night at Anfield, but Emery’s team shouldn’t be written off. Jurgen Klopp can boast match-winners like Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mane and Trent Alexander-Arnold in his squad. Emery, however, has his own coaching ability to make the difference.
Against Bayern Munich, Villarreal showed they can play a number of different ways depending on the situation in front of them. In the first leg, the Spanish side controlled possession and found space in the attacking third through quick passing moves. They could have scored more than just once.
In the second leg, though, Villarreal sat deep and stayed compact. Even after Robert Lewandowski levelled the tie at 1-1, they stayed committed to the task at hand and never allowed Bayern Munich the space they needed to truly unleash their attacking capability. Nagelsmann, one of the sport’s best young coaches, was unable to find solutions.
This wasn’t a backs-to-the-wall job either. When Villarreal had the opportunity, they crafted well-executed moves through the centre of the pitch. The winning goal they scored late on in the second leg demonstrated this, with Dani Parejo and Giovani Lo Celso calm on the ball as they moved forward. Even when Gerard Moreno found himself in space, he had the presence of mind to set up Samuel Chukwueze at the back post for the finish.
Liverpool should be concerned – the profile of Bayern Munich’s team is similar to theirs. If Villarreal can stop the Bundesliga champions, as they did in the Champions League quarter-finals, there’s a good chance the same methods will work against Klopp’s team. The semi-final match-up may not be as one-sided as some see it.
Just like Bayern Munich, Liverpool like to press high and make use of wide forwards to create opportunities in and around the penalty box. They also have creative full backs and a midfield platform that is largely designed to facilitate others. Liverpool also play with a high defensive line, something Villarreal were able to exploit over two legs.
Raul Albiol and Pau Torres demonstrated great discipline by holding the line and denying Bayern Munich space in the quarter-finals and they’ll need to do similar to prevent Liverpool from blowing away Villarreal in the semi-finals. Torres’ pace should give his team a safety net against Luis Diaz, Mane and Salah should they get in behind.
“If I could do an analysis of Villarreal right now that would be very strange,” said Klopp when asked to assess the threat of Villarreal. “I saw the results, the game was very impressive. I only picked up pieces but to beat Juventus and Bayern Munich they deserve to be in the Champions League semi-finals. Unai Emery is the king of the cups, it is unbelievable what he is doing. But give me a bit of time to prepare it properly.”
Villarreal possess such pedigree that this won’t even be the first time they have appeared in the semi-finals of the Champions League – they made it this far in the 2005/06 season before losing to Arsenal. Emery is also a continental master who has lifted the Europa League no fewer than four times, the latest coming last season as Villarreal beat Manchester United in the final.
Klopp and his Liverpool players have good reason to feel confident of making the Champions League final given their current form and quality across the pitch, but they would be foolish to take Villarreal lightly. There are enough warning signs to suggest the Yellow Submarine could sink another illustrious adversary.
