Villarreal Youth Players Shine in Europa League

With the qualification for the knockout stages already secured and the top spot in the group guaranteed, Javi Calleja saw the match against Maccabi Tel Aviv as an opportunity to test the young talents in his squad. The Villarreal coach understood that he would have very few games like this throughout the season and decided to give a chance to a number of academy players who may have the responsibility of carrying the team in the near future.

As expected, the young yellow talents did their best to impress. They pressed with determination, offered themselves naturally, and tried to occupy the field according to the game plan. However, the fact that many of them are not used to playing such demanding matches or the fear of making a mistake ended up affecting the game and led to a slow and unattractive pace.

Maccabi, who had only earned one point so far and had not even scored a goal in the tournament, also failed to take advantage of the occasion to secure a win. They focused on defending with organization and looking for a counterattack. Too little to change the outcome of a match that reached halftime with a predictable 0-0 scoreline.

The Villarreal Attempts, Maccabi Accurate

In the dressing room, Calleja must have reminded his players that they were facing a probably unrepeatable opportunity to make an impression, and that it was better to lose while showing their talent rather than getting a draw without showcasing their skills. In fact, it only took about five minutes to feel that something had changed, to realize that those timid players from the first half had transformed into more liberated and brave footballers, capable of doing more than just making a simple pass.

However, although both Dario Poveda and Mario Gonzalez came close to opening the scoring, it was the Israeli team who, in one of their rare offensive plays, found an unexpected goal. In the 60th minute, Englishman Nick Blackman received a through ball and skillfully beat Barbosa to make it 1-0 and prevent his team from being the only one in the history of the tournament to not score in the group stage.

Although the academy players continued to give their best and search for a goal with some criteria, the match did not produce any more surprises. Calleja took advantage of the final phase to give playing time to a couple more young talents, but Maccabi, aware of how difficult it had been for them to earn points so far, closed all the spaces and condemned the match to end 1-0, which will probably provide very few conclusions about the worth of players like Ramiro Guerra, Pau Torres, Poveda, or Gonzalez.

With a record of three wins, two draws, and one loss in this group stage, Villarreal will face the draw for the round of 32 with a certain sense of insecurity. It is evident that they qualified as group winners, but also that their performances in Europe have been far from expected.

Matchday 6 Group Stage Results:

GROUP A

Slavia Prague 0-1 Astana

Villarreal 0-1 Maccabi Tel Aviv

(Qualifiers: Villarreal and Astana)

GROUP B

Young Boys 2-1 Skënderbeu

Dynamo Kiev 4-1 Partizan

(Qualifiers: Dynamo Kiev and Partizan)

GROUP C

İstanbul Başakşehir 2-1 Sporting Braga

Hoffenheim 1-1 Ludogorets

(Qualifiers: Sporting Braga and Ludogorets)

GROUP D

Rijeka 2-0 AC Milan

Austria Vienna 0-0 AEK

(Qualifiers: AC Milan and AEK)

GROUP E

Apollon 0-3 Everton

Atalanta 1-0 Olympique Lyon

(Qualifiers: Atalanta and Olympique Lyon)

GROUP F

Copenhagen 2-0 Sheriff

Zlín 0-2 Lokomotiv Moscow

(Qualifiers: Lokomotiv Moscow and Copenhagen)