For this fan from Italy, the Submarine reflects his way of living
Mihai Catalin Vidroiu is a Villarreal fan who was born in Romania, although he has lived in Italy since he was three years old. He started to follow the Yellows in 2004. The exact moment that he became a fan was in a UEFA Cup game in the 2003/04 season: “When I was younger, I was a Roma fan, until that game where the Submarine got through against the Italians, thanks to a Sonny Anderson goal.”
‘Michele’, as he is known in the Italian capital, studied Psychology at the Sapienza University of Rome, and currently works as a civil servant in the Ministry of Justice: “Being a Villarreal fan reflects the way I see life. Everywhere, people prefer to follow big clubs because they win, but I also back the little people, those who fight for themselves and prefer to lose with their head held high,” said the die-hard Romanian fan.
Despite living in Rome due to his work, his love for Villarreal made him take a day trip to London in July 2015 to see a Yellows’ friendly against Olympique Lyonnais at the Emirates Stadium. Michele has also visited Vila-real: “Every time I’ve gone there, I’ve met great people, I’ve got to know the town a bit more and found out more about legendary people linked to Villarreal.”
He underlines that some of his favourite players from the club’s history are Jon Dahl Tommasson, Joan Oriol, Ikechukwu Uche, Mateo Musacchio, Jonathan Dos Santos, Jérémy Perbet, Jaume Costa and Mario Gaspar. Although, he admits that if he had to pick one, it would be Juan Román Riquelme: “I think we’ll never see a player as elegant as him. He danced in the stadium, and beauty in football, like it is in general life, is irresistible.”
From Villarreal CF, through the ‘Yellows Around The World’ series, we tell you the stories of some of the biggest international fans of the Submarine.
