In the early morning of Beijing time on the 27th, the final of the 2020-21 Europa League was held in Gdansk, Poland, and La Liga powerhouse Villarreal fought Manchester United 1-1 in 90 minutes, defeating the opponent 12-11 through the penalty shootout, and the "Yellow Submarine" won the grand prix championship for the first time with an unbeaten record. Villarreal has also written his name into the history of European competition, becoming the city's least populous (52,000-person) European championship-winning club and reaching next season's Champions League. Manager Emery has led the Europa League four times, becoming the manager with the most Europa League titles.
When it comes to "yellow submarines", veteran fans may think of the Argentine midfielder Riquelme of that year. Yes, the classic striker has left a series of classic scenes in Villarreal, but the team's best result is only the final four of the competition. Although Cazorla's strength is outstanding, because the overall strength of the "yellow submarine" still has a certain gap with the traditional European giants, the team will not go too far whenever it comes to the knockout stage of the competition. Of course, it should not be forgotten that the current Guoan striker Bakambu, who played for Villarreal for two seasons from the 2015-16 season, contributing 23 goals.
But this season, Emery has made all this change, the La Liga coach returned to La Liga after leaving Arsenal, just villarreal "rooted", although he still can not shake the la Liga three-legged pattern, but in the European arena, he used the most practical play and steady performance step by step to lead the team to the peak. He once led the team to win the Europa League three consecutive titles in Sevilla, and this time in the "Yellow Submarine", he led the team to win the first major championship trophy in the history of the team. Having won the championship four times, Emery's title of "Europa League Professional" is worthy of the name.
Villarreal's victory has also rewritten the history of European competitions, and the club's location in Villarreal, a small city in the province of Castellón in the Valencia region of Spain, has a population of only 52,000 in 2019. In the history of European competition, it is rare for a city team with such a small population to reach the final of a European war. The last time was in the Champions League final in 2004, when Monaco, which had 30,000 people, managed to qualify, but they met Porto and Mourinho, who was in the ascendancy, and the loss was justified. It is worth mentioning that Villarreal, with 52,000 people, has also become the least populous European championship winning club in its city, the former record holder is the Belgian Team Marinas, which won the European Cup winners in 1988, and their city has a population of 75,000.
With Villarreal winning the Europa League, La Liga will have five teams in the Champions League next season. According to the rules, Atletico, Real Madrid, Barca and Sevilla have already qualified for next season's Champions League because they won the top four in La Liga. Now that Villarreal have won the Europa League, they will also qualify for the Champions League, in addition, they will also be seeded.
Previously, analysts said that after Villarreal qualified for the Champions League, their qualification for the European Association Cup (Champions League, outside the Europa League) as the seventh in La Liga will be ceded to Celta, who is eighth. However, as the newspaper pointed out that after the "yellow submarine" won the Europa League, the team can choose between the Champions League and the European Union Cup, and they will definitely choose the Champions League. This means that la Liga teams' UEFA Cup entries will be voided rather than replaced. However, if Betis and Real Sociedad, who play in the Europa League, finish third in the group stage and miss out on the Europa League knockout stages, they will advance to the knockout stage of the Europa League, a pattern similar to the Champions League and Europa League.
Text/Beiqing Sports Zhang Kunlong