Villarreal CF in European football

Villarreal CF first entered European competition in 2002, appearing in the Intertoto Cup, UEFA Cup, Champions League, Europa League, Europa Conference League, and UEFA Super Cup. Their first European trophy came in 2021, when they won the Europa League.

In the 2005–06 Champions League, Villarreal made a strong impression. They controversially eliminated Everton in the qualifying round with two 2–1 wins. In the group stage, they went undefeated against Benfica, Lille, and Manchester United, winning twice and drawing four times—including two scoreless draws with United—to top the group. They reached the quarter-finals on their debut by eliminating Rangers on away goals after two draws. Against Inter Milan in the quarter-finals, Diego Forlán scored inside the first minute of the first leg, but Villarreal lost 2–1. They won the second leg 1–0 at home, advancing on away goals after a 2–2 aggregate, with Rodolfo Arruabarrena scoring the decisive goal from a Juan Román Riquelme free kick. In the semi-finals, they lost 1–0 on aggregate to Arsenal after Jens Lehmann saved Riquelme’s last-minute penalty.

In the 2008–09 Champions League, Villarreal qualified automatically after finishing second in La Liga. They drew Manchester United again, plus Celtic and AaB. They held United to a 0–0 draw at Old Trafford, beat Celtic 1–0 at home, and thrashed AaB 6–3. After drawing with AaB and United again, they lost to already-eliminated Celtic but still advanced. In the knock-out stage, they drew 1–1 away to Panathinaikos and won 2–1 in Athens to reach the quarter-finals, where they faced Arsenal again. A 1–1 first-leg draw was followed by a 3–0 loss in the return leg.

For the 2009–10 Europa League, Villarreal beat NAC Breda 9–2 on aggregate in a qualifier. They finished second in Group G behind Red Bull Salzburg, then lost 4–1 on aggregate to VfL Wolfsburg in the round of 32.

In the 2010–11 Europa League, Villarreal entered the qualifying round after Mallorca was excluded due to financial irregularities. They beat Dnepr Mogilev 7–1 on aggregate, then topped their group despite an early 2–0 loss to Dinamo Zagreb. After eliminating Napoli, Bayer Leverkusen, and Twente, they reached the semi-finals against Porto. Porto won the first leg 5–1 after Villarreal took an early lead, and though Villarreal won the second leg 3–2, Porto advanced to win the final. Giuseppe Rossi finished as the tournament’s second top scorer with eleven goals.

After missing Europe in 2019–20, Villarreal returned to the Europa League in 2020–21. They beat Sivasspor 5–3 at home in their first match, finished first in their group, then eliminated Red Bull Salzburg, Dynamo Kyiv, Dinamo Zagreb, and Arsenal. In the final on 26 May 2021, they drew 1–1 with Manchester United and won 11–10 on penalties, securing their first major trophy and first European title.