The miracle of Villarreal at the blow of ceramics

by


  • Vila-real, with only 52,000 inhabitants, took to the streets to celebrate the feat of eliminating Bayern, representative of the city of Munich, with 1.5 million inhabitants and nine metro lines.

  • Ceramics give life to the town with a hundred factories, including Pamesa, owned by Fernando Roig, president of the ‘groguet’ club.

Back then called today Ceramic Stadium it was called the madrigal and the first thing that struck you was that there were tiles everywhere. The April 25, 2006 Vila-real was a party. At noon, the restaurants were filled with diners savoring paellas of any ingredient and until the 88th minute the field was a continuous lung that encouraged Villarreal against Arsenal. But when Jens Lehmann Juan Román Riquelme’s penalty was stopped by a deathly silence that took over not only the field, but also the city of Castellón.

“I never saw him again,” he confessed. Riquelme a year ago. So, as will happen in 15 days, Villarreal looked for the feat against the English team; a square, like now, in the Stade de France, on the outskirts of Paris, where Barça finally lifted the Cup in 2006. Another participation in the Champions League had to come before the world collapsed just 8 kilometers from Castelló, the capital, where a track train narrow, called ‘La Panderola’, joined both cities during the first half of the last century. Everything sank when the team, the ‘groguets’ as they are called, lost to Atlético on June 12, 2013 and they went down to Second after a disastrous season that started in the worst way. Manuel Preciado, the new coach, died of a heart attack the same day he was to be introduced.

However, all these misfortunes were forgotten on Tuesday night. ‘Cause 16 years later a minute before that Riquelme missed the fateful 2006 penalty Samu Chukwueze With his goal in Munich, he certified Villarreal’s qualification for the Champions League semifinals for the second time in its history.

And Vila-real (in its official name) exploded with joy. People took to the streets with hugs, shouts and tears, in a dreamy early morning, while 1,650 kilometers and 15 hours by car, the players hugged and Fernando Roig, the president, boasted of equipment. “It is one of my happiest days. I am proud to be the president of a club in a city of 52,000 inhabitants that has achieved such a feat.”

“It is one of my happiest days. I am proud to be the president of a club in a city of 52,000 inhabitants,” said Fernando Roig.

His happiness was not for less. On the one hand, the sentimental. His vice president and right-hand man at the club, Joseph Manuel Llaneza, just two months ago he reported that he was beginning a personal fight against leukemia. And, on the other, because the most biblical story was back on stage, the little one against the big one, David against Goliath.

Almost unbelievable that in the sport that moves the most money, the flagship club of a city of 52,000 people take down the almighty bayernthe same one that two years ago endorsed him in the same competition eight goals against Barçathe one that exhibits six European Cups in its windows and the one that represents a city with 1.5 million inhabitantsthe third in Germany, with 8 metro lines and 96 stations, with its tram and an airport that is considered the best in the world.

Of the Castello airport, half an hour by car from Vila-real, it is better not to talk. Of course, there is no metro in the city and if it is placed in a Spanish ranking, it appears as the 15th largest in Valencian lands and no less than 145th in Spain in terms of number of inhabitants. They are above Vila-real, for example, Segura Mill either Sant Vicent del Raspeigwhich only appear on the Spanish sports map when the Vuelta passes through there.

But it is that much of the blame for that ‘yellow submarine’ coming to the surface and sinking battleships like Bayern is due to the hand of Fernando Roig, owner of Pamesa, one of the most important companies among the hundred tile and ceramic factories, with the competition of Porcelana in the lead, that grow in Vila-real. Fernando also owns 9% of the shares of Mercadonahis brother’s company Juan. In the family there is another famous brother, Pacowho was president of Valencia.

Related news

If it wasn’t for the pottery and its benefits, hardly from oranges and tangerines, the other source of income, although light years away from decoration, they would give life to the football team that has placed the city on the world map. The team that is allowed to eliminate an entire Bayern. Because just like he said Tuesday night Gerard Morenoone of the team’s stars, “since the Bayern ball came out in the hype we thought we could do it because faith moves mountains”.

“If you spit up, sometimes you can fall”, Dani Parejo

And not just faith, but a certain arrogance on the part of some representative of the Bavarian club, such as the Bayern coach, Julian Nagelmannwhom Daniel Parejo, after the feat, reminded him of a certain snub: “Your coach disrespected us by saying that he wanted to sentence the tie in the first leg. If you spit up, sometimes you can fall down & rdquor ;. Only drops dipped in gold have fallen on Villarreal.



Leave a Comment