In the summer of 2004, Villarreal CF were preparing for the club's sixth season at LaLiga Santander level. After a turbulent previous campaign, which included the resignation of coach Benito Floro in February and ultimately a respectable eighth placed finish, club president Fernando Roig took on the challenge of finding a new leader for the dressing room.
There were many candidates to become the new coach, but, in the end and to the surprise of many, the club opted for a tactician with lots of experience in South American football yet none in Europe. They hired Chilean coach Manuel Pellegrini.
As well as the exciting arrival of the coach, the Castellón club signed Diego Forlán from Manchester United and managed to keep Juan Román Riquelme, sparking optimism. It worked even better than expected, with Villarreal CF finishing the 38-round season in third position, the club's highest ever placing. They were only behind FC Barcelona and Real Madrid in the standings, meaning they had qualified for the Champions League for the first time.
On an individual level, Forlán bagged 25 goals that season to win LaLiga Santander's Pichichi Trophy and also the Golden Shoe, which he shared with Arsenal's French forward Thierry Henry that year.
That first season with Pellegrini at the helm was just the beginning of a glorious era for El Submarino Amarillo. Playing in continental football's top competition allowed Villarreal CF fans to visit some iconic stadiums, such as Old Trafford, Estádio da Luz or San Siro. Yet, even they probably didn't expect the team to advance as far as they did or to put together so many thrilling nights.
By April of 2006, Villarreal CF had made it all the way to the semi-finals of their first participation in the Champions League, where they met Arsenal. A narrow defeat in London and a heart-breaking goalless draw at home, including a Riquelme penalty miss in stoppage time, meant Villarreal CF just missed out on the final in Paris, but they had absolutely put Vila-real on the European football map.
That fame and recognition served to attract new players in the summer of 2006. Robert Pirès, a World Cup winner with France in 1998, signed for El Submarino Amarillo at the age of 32 to take on a new professional challenge, while the club's project was even able to survive the departure of Riquelme midway through the following season, as they stayed near the top of the standings and finished the 2006/07 league campaign in fifth place.
The high point then arrived the following season. The departure of Forlán to Atlético de Madrid was compensated for with great skill on the part of the sporting department. The incorporations of players such as Diego López, Diego Godín, Joan Capdevila and Giuseppe Rossi, as well as the return of Santi Cazorla after a loan spell at Recreativo de Huelva, gave the team a level of solidity that saw them improve on the results of the 2004/05 season. In this campaign, Villarreal CF managed to finish in a historic second place in LaLiga Santander, which remains the club's best ever finish.
Marcos Senna, who was a Villarreal CF player from 2002 to 2013 and who is now a member of the club's institutional relations department, reflected on that achievement, stating: "Finishing as runners-up in the 2007/08 season was like winning a title for us. In fact, we celebrated it as such, with an open-top bus parade. It was the best moment I experienced during my 11 years as a Villarreal CF player, along with the first qualification for the Champions League and promotion in 2013."
The Brazil-born Spain international managed to cap off that season by going on to win Euro 2008 with the national team that summer, doing so alongside club teammates Santi Cazorla and Joan Capdevila. In addition, Senna won the award for the best Spanish player of the season from Don Balón magazine.
In the summer of 2009, after a season in which the club lost to Arsenal again in the Champions League, this time in the quarter-finals, Pellegrini left the club to take over as coach of Real Madrid, doing so after winning the Miguel Ángel Muñoz award as the best coach in LaLiga Santander. That marked the end of one golden era, but the foundations had been laid for the successes that the century-old club are still achieving today. Although the club suffered a relegation and spent the 2012/13 season at LaLiga SmartBank level, Villarreal CF have once again consolidated their position as a tremendously important club since their bounce-back promotion.
Since 2013 they have only finished lower than seventh in LaLiga Santander in one season, and they club is now celebrating its 100th anniversary in 2023. They're celebrating that centenary at the best moment in their history, still leaving their mark on European football. In 2021, they defeated Manchester United in the Europa League final and, in 2022, they returned to the Champions League semi-finals, this time taking on Liverpool.
The generation of players that was led by Pellegrini is fondly remembered by the fans and is a fundamental part of Villarreal CF's history. Senna was one of them and says he feels very fortunate to have shared that midfield with many others. He recalled: "Juan Román Riquelme, Robert Pirès, Bruno Soriano, Santi Cazorla... every time I entered the pitch to play with them, I enjoyed it very much."
"I can say with confidence and heart that Villarreal CF is like my family," Senna added, recalling that time in which his generation laid strong foundations. Such is the dimension of his legacy that he is the only player to have a stadium gate named after him, the one of his No.19. He concluded: "To be the only player to have received this honour from the club is something unforgettable. My bond with this club is for life."
