VUSA Pod #88: Allen and Sid celebrate making the CL semifinals

It’s been awhile, but here is another in the increasingly rare series of Villarreal USA podcasts. I apologize, but Villarreal’s historic run in the Champions League has coincided with all sorts of (other) major events in our lives. So it goes.

The first part of the podcast is devoted to the Bayern matches and, really, to the fact that we stood toe to toe with them, did not blink, and came away a deserved winner. Sid has a long enough memory to remember our last run to the Champions League semis and as he pointed out we really rode our luck a lot more against Inter Milan than we did this time against Bayern. Plus, we faced much tougher opposition in the group stage and the quarters this time, we’d suggest.

It is almost comical to remember when Unai Emery was hired more or less behind Javi Calleja’s back and there were some of us wondering what he could bring us that we didn’t already have. And how much did any of us notice Etienne Capoue’s signing in late December, 2020?

After the break, we catch up with some ex-Villarreal players and coaches, some famous, some infamous. Can you believe that Miguel Angel Lotina is still coaching, still managing to get talented rosters into relegation battles? Well, he is.

On a more positive note, Pablo Fornals has settled in just fine at West Ham, who are in the Europa league semifinals themselves. No Spanish teams left there—very unusual.

Endavant Villarreal!!!!