Those most passionate followers of Spanish football have for the past decade already noticed El Submarino Amarillo. It has been long coming but this season they have made their intentions clear, stepping up to another level. This time around football fans around the world take notice of this small club, a yellow-clad team who have stepped out of the shadow of local rivals Valencia. They have done more than that! They have taken charge ahead of Valencia, Sevilla and Atlético Madrid to challenge the dominance of Spain’s giants, Barcelona and Real Madrid.

Villarreal first qualified for the Spanish top flight in 1998 but after only one season went back down to the Segunda División. In 2000 they made it back up again to the Primera División and have stayed there since. Villarreal have rarely had any stability with their managers and coaching staff but the Chilean, Manuel Pellegrini, had the longest spiel (2004-09) until he left to manage Real Madrid for a season. Pellegrini did in fact achieve a 3rd and a 2nd placing in La Liga with Villarreal. The club also had some very successful runs in the UEFA Champions League but the optimism has never been greater than it is today.
The current manager, Juan Carlos Garrido, only took over ahead of the 2010-11 season but he had been their B-team’s manager for the past 8 years. All the players coming up through their youth ranks or who had been battling for a place in the first XI were well known to Garrido, and him to them.

The Villarreal of 2010-11 is a great mix of youth and brought in talent. There are more players around than Barcelona and Real Madrid can chew off. In a small town in the Castellón province Villarreal have gathered a superb amount of talent and given them a refreshingly, optimistic identity. The team’s captain, Marcos Senna, is a Brazilian born Spaniard with all the experience necessary to lead from his central midfield position. Up front play the likes of Brazilian talent Nilmar and the Italian 23 year old Giuseppe Rossi. They are complimented with the American youngster Jozy Altidore. The defence is made up by the likes of Argentinians Gonzalo Rodriguez and Mateo Musacchio, with Spaniards Joan Capdevila and Ángel López. In midfield Bruno and Rubén Gracia Calmache aka Cani are standing out as impact players fully capable of taking on Europe’s best. The way these yellow submarines have emerged onto the front stage of Spanish football have quickly endeared them as football’s new darlings. At the moment they’re battling it out between the giants from Barcelona and Madrid, fighting at least for a new Champions League spot – maybe more.
This season Villarreal also play in the Europa League, where they have emerged as one of the favourites.

Gareth Bale is a left wing-back who plays for English side Tottenham and the Welsh national team.
It’s to the frustration of many English football fans that Bale was born and raised in Cardiff, Wales. He played for his school team when he was discovered by English club Southampton. Three months before his 17th birthday Bale made his debut in the Championship for newly relegated Southampton. He quickly secured his place in the starting XI and he was named the 2006 BBC Wales Young Sports Personality of the Year. This was followed by the Football League Young Player of the Year for the 2006-07 season.
In May 2007 Gareth Bale signed for Tottenham. He made his Premiership debut at the start of the following season and scored three goals in his first four matches for the club. In December he suffered an injury to his right ankle, which ruled him out for the rest of the season.
For a long time Bale seemed to be jinxed for not playing a match where Tottenham ran out as winners. After 24 such matches that was solved when he came on as a substitute in a match on 26 September 2009, when Tottenham were 5-0 ahead. That 2009-10 was gradually going to become the season when Gareth Bale stepped up on the world stage with Tottenham. Early in the season he was kept on the bench, while Spurs’ Cameroonian left back was playing well. When Assou-Ekotto got injured Bale grabbed his chance and stepped up to the challenge. Eventually Assou-Ekotto was put back on left back, while Bale was moved further up at left midfield, from where he could challenge forward with his pace and gifted left foot. Bale has kept providing assists and scoring important goals for Tottenham, so much that he is today widely regarded as one of the game’s best left flanked players. On October 20th 2010 Bale scored a stunning hat-trick in the Champions League, away at Inter Milan. British newspaper The Daily Telegraph wrote: “With a hat-trick that will resonate as one of the Champions League’s most remarkable tours de force, Gareth Bale’s heroics transformed him here in just 45 minutes from one of Britain’s most promising to Europe’s most wanted.”

Real Madrid manager José Mourinho is discouraging of any suggestion that Wayne Rooney would be heading to Bernabéu. He told Sky Sports: “My thoughts are he will stay. He probably wants to leave for some reasons, but I believe he belongs to Manchester United, he belongs to Manchester United fans, he belongs to Old Trafford.”
In the past Mourinho has declared himself an admirer of Wayne Rooney. He has claimed he would like to coach him. There could be several reasons to his caution around Rooney now. These are our suggestions:
- Mourinho is unsure about Rooney’s more than six months out of form and does not want to gamble on such a high profile player, with equally high wages.
- Mourinho is not declaring any interest at this stage, because he knows Rooney has not been in talks with Real Madrid for the past couple of months. This would mean that Rooney is probably heading elsewhere.
- Or Mourinho has in fact been in contact with Rooney ever since he took over at Real Madrid. He is just playing innocent in the face of Sir Alex Ferguson and all Manchester United fans.

If Real Madrid is not a contender for Wayne Rooney’s signature, then which clubs have the money and a keen interest in signing this high profile, out of form striker? Could we be ready for a major betrayal with Wayne Rooney choosing Manchester City instead of Manchester United. City fans might be dreaming of a reunion with Tevez and Rooney, while in fact Tevez has been unhappy at City and could instead be replaced by Rooney.
Should Wayne Rooney choose to leave England but not for Real Madrid, another possibility would be Italy where the only likely candidate is Inter Milan. Their neighbours AC Milan would probably need Rooney more but they won’t have the money. Are there any clubs in Germany who could come to the party?
At present it is still Manchester City and Real Madrid people keep their eyes on, regardless of Mourinho’s statements to the media.

Tom Huddlestone’s 25 yard strike away at Fulham has been subject of much debate over the weekend. Referee Mike Dean first ruled out the goal, after his assistant flagged William Gallas off-side for Tottenham. He then changed his mind and awarded the goal. We will explain why that was a correct decision by the referee.

Following a Spurs corner the ball found its way to Tom Huddlestone, whose low shot from 25 yards skidded through a crowd of players and into the left-hand corner of the net. Up went linesman Martin Yerby’s flag against William Gallas, who had been a fraction offside when the ball was struck. On the way through the ball deflected off Fulham defender Chris Baird. William Gallas charged at the ball just before it passed Fulham’s goalkeeper and crossed the line.

There are four questions to be answered:
- Was Gallas off-side when Huddlestone struck the ball. Yes.
- Was Gallas active in play for the ball, interferring play or obstructing the keeper, AT THE TIME Huddlestone struck the ball? No.
- Did the ball take a deflection off a Fulham player? Yes.
- Did Gallas touch the ball? No.
That Gallas was actively trying to get to the ball after the deflection is irrelevant. The Fulham player can’t play him off-side. The referee had perfect view of what happened, while the linesman only saw that he was off-side. The linesman didn’t know whether Gallas touched it or if it deflected of a Fulham player. The linesman did his job, while the referee did an excellent job in keeping his head cool to make the right decision! This is all according to the present off-side rule as it is. Well done, Mr Dean.

David Silva is a winger who plays for English side Manchester City and the Spanish national team. Silva joined the youth ranks at Valencia as a 14 year old. After being out on loan to two different Segunda Division clubs he secured his place in Valencia team when he was 20. After four seasons in the first team he transferred to Manchester City in June 2010. Silva played at various youth levels for Spain and made his debut for the senior team in November 2006. He played his part for Spain’s winning team at the 2008 UEFA European Championship, scoring in the semifinal against Russia. Silva was in the squad winning the 2010 FIFA World Championship but with limited playing-time. He’s back in force again for Spain’s Euro 2012 campaign, scoring in their first two qualifying matches.