Villarreal - Liverpool: 'Yellow Submarine' and the sailor's dream

When Villarreal faced Liverpool, people had the opportunity to remember the nickname "Yellow Submarine" and admire the rise of the small team from Spain.

* The Villarreal - Liverpool match takes place at 2:05 a.m. on April 29, Hanoi time.

In the 1960s, The Beatles' music was famous all over the world. In 1966, the British quartet released "The Yellow Submarine", which dominated the music charts for several weeks. By chance, a priest heard the song, got excited and recognized the similarities with his hometown football team (Yellow: yellow, Villarreal's traditional jersey color).

At the time, the small team Villarreal was fighting for promotion to the Third Division. And during the celebration, "The Yellow Submarine" was played over and over again on the speakers.

In a flash, theThat nickname has been with them through half a century.

The small town of Vila-real once lived through vibrant football nights thanks to the relentless rise of the Villarreal club.

When calling themselves the "Yellow Submarine", Villarreal wanted to imply modesty. They are just a small ship, diving in deep waters but always dreaming of the day they can rise up with Real Madrid, Barcelona, ​​Athletic Bilbao...

Ten years ago, Villarreal had a chance to stand shoulder to shoulder with those giants, when they unexpectedly reached the semi-finals of the Champions League. They were only eliminated by Arsenal with a final score of 0-1 after two matches. In the second leg, if Juan Riquelme had not missed a penalty, Villarreal could very well have reached the final against Barcelona that year.

Ten years have passed in a flash. The then Villarreal coach - Manuel Pellegrini - has just returned to the semi-finals of the Champions League with Man City, full of memories. Villarreal is also in the last four of the Europa League to face Liverpool - the hometown of The Beatles, the father of the nickname "Yellow Submarine".

This is an unexpected outcome because only three years ago, Villarreal was still playing in the Second Division. The team came from a town called Vila-real. That place is so small that if all the young and old came to Nou Camp to watch football, the stadium would still have 50,000 empty seats. Villarreal's El Madrigal stadium has a capacity of 25,000 seats. On the days when Barca or Real came to play, the streets here were sparsely populated because everyone went to watch football.

The team has spent a quarter of its existence in the Third Division. They have spent fewer seasons in the top flight than they have spent in the Second Division and below. But once on the pitch, they play attacking football. Football, for Villarreal, is above all a joy. If they are relegated, the fans will still follow them. In a football world that is increasingly pragmatic and commercialized, Villarreal is a cool oasis. Their games are very pleasant to watch.

Football, for Villarreal, is about joy and emotion. That philosophy is helping them soar again this season, after a long period of hardship, at times being relegated to the Second Division.

More than a decade ago, Villarreal found a coach who shared their football philosophy. And together they rose on a journey to fame. Pellegrini came from South America and gradually made his name in Europe thanks to his performances at Villarreal. It was this club that launched him to Real Madrid and later Man City.

On the contrary, Pellegrini also put Villarreal on the European football map with a romantic adventure in the Champions League in the 2005-2006 season. Without a strong financial potential, Villarreal could only become a destination for stars who had lost their luck. A Diego Forlan from Man Utd drifted back after disastrous days in England. A Juan Riquelme failed miserably from Barca and a Robert Pires seemed to have expired after leaving Arsenal.

Yet that team surprised everyone, with a football as beautiful as Deportivo La Coruna at their peak at the turn of the century. They dominated Arsene Wenger's Arsenal in both matches and were eliminated to the regret of many people. That was the year Riquelme played the most beautiful football of his life, in the position of a number 10.

Now, Villarreal are back in the semi-finals of a European Cup, after a decade of ups and downs, including relegation to the Second Division and a surprising run to the top of La Liga a year ago. Marcelino has been with them on that journey. He arrived at Villarreal in the summer of 2013, brought the club back to La Liga and now dreams of a Europa League final.

"Yellow Submarine" Villarreal at times took the lead in La Liga, despite the pursuit and terrible destructive power of modern warships like Real Madrid.

Marcelino does this in a context where every summer there are dozens of players leaving and dozens of new ones arriving. But like Pellegrini before, he knows how to develop players who have fallen out of favor at their old clubs into gems at El Madrigal. A Jonathan dos Santos who could not last at Barca, a Roberto Soldado who disappointed at Tottenham returned, an Adrian who was with Atletico Madrid in the Champions League final two years ago but fell out of favor after moving to Porto...

The players, who were once considered a motley crew, moved forward together, leaving the sad past behind, as if they had never lost. They attacked, as if they had never known defeat.

Jurgen Klopp came to Liverpool, reviving the glory days of the Merseyside team, evoking the vibrant and defiant rock 'n' roll of half a century ago. Villarreal, on the other hand, were born to tell romantic stories. They attacked not out of arrogance but because they loved beauty and adventure, as the immortal lyrics of "Yellow Submarine" say:

"In the town where I was born
Lived a man who sailed to sea
And he told us of his life
In the land of submarines
So we sailed up to the sun
Till we found the sea of ​​green
And we lived beneath the waves
In our yellow submarine"

Rough translation:

In the land where I was born
There was a man who sailed out to sea.
When we met, he often told us
About the land of ships
Then all go together
To find the blue sea
Just below the cool waves
That's my house, the yellow ship.

For over 90 years, Villarreal have never stopped looking towards the sun. Football has always been so beautiful to them. They are the sailors, persistently telling the world of football their adventures.

According to VNE