We'll have more to say about the decisions the club has to make this off-season, and we will try not to have more to say about the strange goings-on in other matches (three red cards to Getafe, offside goal for Rayo). Frankly, we all know those things happen in Spain, but they would not have mattered if we had taken care of business ourselves--that applies to yesterday, that applies to this month, that applies to this entire season.
All right, then, let's see how Reuters reported it, since this is what papers like Britain's The Independent ran with:
Disbelief as Villarreal go from Europe to relegation | Football | Reuters
Here's elcentrocampista's roundup of the day (I think the reference to Ruben Castro should be Marco Ruben, of course):
Sportyou had a couple of quick stories after the game, one on Sr. Roig and one on Llaneza:
Las dos imágenes de Fernando Roig
Llaneza insulta a Godín y Lotina sospecha: "El fútbol está en grave peligro"
More on the Godin-Llaneza spat here, including a video:
Llaneza a Godín: "Eres un golfo y un sinvergüenza" - Villarreal 0 - Atlético de Madrid 1 - AS.com
Exactly what Godin said to Llaneza to start all this wasn't clear, but evidently it was some sort of taunt, and Llaneza responded with a reference to Godin's partying, which is what got him a ticket out of Vila-real.
I was actually holding up pretty well last night until I saw this tweet from Pablo Iñiguez, then I started to cry, I admit. Recall that he is one of the B team players being relegated through no fault of his own.
Twitter / @pablo_iniguez19: El club de mis amores y de ...
Incidentally, there were also tweets of support/disbelief/frustration from Jefferson Montero, who wrote that he was not believing in a God immediately after the match, signed off with a "bye" then came back on later to say "I decide to write and give encouragement to my friends at Villarreal CF" and Alejandro Martinuccio, who said he couldn't sleep, he had no words. (he also had said earlier in the week he had the flu, which explains why he missed training for a couple of days but not why he was unavailable yesterday, btw)
The sentiment is very sincere and contrasts brilliantly with Garrido, who according to Lizarraga still feels Villarreal treated him badly and refused to send the team a message of support before this match. His (Lizarraga's) analysis of Lotina's conservatism as the proximate cause of relegation can't be denied:
El Villarreal cae víctima del miedo de Lotina - Deportes - El Periódico Mediterraneo
And this article's headline, roughly translated as "we needed more happiness and less fear", says it all.
Abrahan Guirao's article, ¡VOLVEREMOS! :: elperiodic.com, also sums things up pretty well. Even a rainbow over the pitch before the game and the holiday of San Pascual (Vila-real's patron saint) didn't help There are some good photos of disbelieving fans after the match in the stands, but what really stands out for me is his (cynical but probably accurate) analysis of Spain today, especially for young people. Indeed, life is not a bed of roses, and neither is football. We will be back. Endavant Villarreal.