For the first time in their 20 years in the top flight of Spanish football, the Yellow Submarine have named a starting lineup made up of 11 Spaniards
A starting lineup for the record books. This evening, against Atlético Madrid, Villarreal CF began the game with 11 players from Spain on the pitch. That is something that had never happened in the Yellows’ previous 20 seasons in the top flight of Spanish football.
Today, Sunday 23rd February 2020, Javi Calleja named the following team to start the match at the Wanda Metropolitano and it is one that will go down in Villarreal history: Asenjo; Rubén Peña, Albiol, Pau, Alberto Moreno; Cazorla, Iborra, Trigueros, Moi Gómez; Gerard, Paco Alcácer.
Of those 11 Spanish players, five of them are from the Comunidad Valenciana.
Promotion against Compostela was with 11 Spaniards
The last time Villarreal started with 11 Spanish players in league competition was when the Yellows were playing in the Second Division in the 1997/98 season. It was a special day for the Yellow Submarine, 24th May 1998, as it was the second leg of the promotion playoffs against Santiago de Compostela (1-1). On that day, Villarreal clinched promotion to the top flight and set up with the following starting XI: Palop; Pascual, Serer, Roberto, Arregi; Ángel Luis, Antonio Díaz, Alberto Saavedra, Javi Prats, Iñaki; Paco Salillas.
The first ever starting lineup in LaLiga had 10 Spanish players in it
Villarreal’s first top-flight match was at the Santiago Bernabéu against Real Madrid, on 31st August 1998. José Antonio Irulegi, the manager, lined up with a starting XI with just one footballer born outside of Spain. That was Gica Craioveanu, who became the man to score Villarreal’s first goal in the top division of Spanish football.
The line-up on the day was: Palop; Pascual, Serer, Robert, Arregi; Gerardo, Albelda, Antonio Díaz, Alfaro; Moisés, Craioveanu.
Since then, there had been a number of times when ten Spaniards had started in the starting XI, but never 11. Until now.
