Source: Daily_Mail
PETE JENSON: Villarreal stop Real Madrid and Barcelona make La Liga look like SPL
Scottish Premier League results caused a minor stir in Spain on Wednesday. 'I see Rangers lost' 'and so did Celtic'. Cue deadly silence, furrowed brows and then the question: 'Could it ever happen here?'[LNB]La Liga does not take kindly to comparisons with the SPL. Even though Real Madrid and Barcelona have not lost in the same round of matches with the league still to play for since the first weekend of the 2008-09 season. It happened twice at the end of the same campaign but only after Barca had won the league and it did not occur at all last season.[LNB]But there is one bright light on the horizon, one cottage-industry of a football club, going toe-to-toe with the corporations. Villarreal are back and this weekend the yellow submarine can raise its periscope right between the big two - a win over Barca and they will move ahead of Pep Guardiola's team and go level top with Real Madrid who play on Sunday.[LNB] Yellow peril: Giuseppe Rossi (No 22) has been banging them in for Villarreal again this season[LNB]There may be a £270m difference between their budgets; you might be able to fit the entire population twice over into the Camp Nou and the town's only paella restaurant might only ever be 'closed' or 'fully booked' but Villarreal has one hell of a football team again.[LNB]After last season's blip - when they outsourced a replacement for Real Madrid-bound Manuel Pellegrini and only righted the wrong midway through the campaign by promoting youth team coach Juan Carlos Garrido - bathroom-suite mogul Fernando Roig's club has returned from its year off. [LNB]They have two wins and one draw from their last three visits to the Camp Nou and have only lost once all season picking up 23 points from 10 games. That kind of return would have them top of Serie A.[LNB]Former Manchester United forward Giuseppe Rossi has seven goals so far this season and is just six from the club's all-time top-scorer Diego Forlan's haul of 59 in the yellow shirt. [LNB]His midfield supply line comes primarily from Borja Valero, signed from West Bromwich in the summer in a loan deal likely to be made permanent at the end of the season for a pre-agreed £6m.[LNB]'The players feel they are part of something big here,' he says. 'But there is also a family feel to the club because of the way it is run by a small group of dedicated people.'[LNB] Getting ahead: Former West Bromwich midfielder Borja Valero (left) vies with Sporting Gijon's Sebastian Eguren [LNB]Improved by his spell at West Bromwich, where he says, 'the game was more physical and there was more emphasis on getting the ball into the penalty area', Borja has even turned Barca heads as they consider possible alternatives should they fail to sign Cesc Fabregas again next summer.[LNB]Roig's capture of Borja is as shrewd as the way he has built the club from the bottom up with a youth system that has spawned a Villarreal B team currently competing with Barcelona Bin Spain's second division. [LNB] More from Pete Jenson... Holy Jose! Mourinho mayhem in Madrid, Pep going potty in Denmark and La Liga already looking ahead to El Clasico04/11/10 Pete Jenson: How do you polish a fading Cup? Bring in the helicopters...28/10/10 Pete Jenson: Is it time Guardiola made Rooney work at Barca?21/10/10 Late starter Quincy's transformation from Arsenal exile to Malaga missile14/10/10 Pete Jenson: Spain pay tribute to Vicente del Bosque with homecoming gig in Salamanca07/10/10 Game in Spain - Pete Jenson's new column: No-one likes Real, says Jose30/09/10 VIEW FULL ARCHIVEAll youth categories play the same formation helping players make the step-up into the first team and that strength in depth afforded the club by its youth policy meant it could play an entire second string in midweek in the cup saving the first XI for tomorrow night. [LNB]Ambitious president Roig puts no limits on where the club can end up. Asked if he would take third place now he replies: 'No, I want to finish first.' [LNB]Villarreal have never been top despite having had the chance to do so on seven occasions. 'We are the yellow submarine and we cruise comfortably under water close to the leaders but when we have to come to the surface we struggle,' said former El Madrigal favourite Robert Pires before he left the club last season.[LNB]But as striker Rossi points out: 'If we win these two (they play Valencia after Barcelona) then people will have to start taking us very seriously.' [LNB]Spanish football needs a strong Villarreal to show bigger but badly run outfits the way forward. Imagine what historical clubs such as Valencia and Atletico Madrid, with large fanbases, could do if they were run as well. [LNB]Tomorrow they face a Barcelona side without Gerard Pique and his replacement Gabi Milito. If that weakened defence crumbles at the feet of La Liga's brightest double act Nilmar and Rossi, then there will be new joint leaders Sunday morning. [LNB]And after Villarreal do a Hearts, if Sporting Gijon can do a Hibs 24-hours later against Real Madrid then there is hope that it won't just be the old-firm Clasico that decides the destiny of the Spanish title. [LNB] Jose Mario Dos Santos Mourinho Felix, as the referee's report named him this week when he was sent off (right) for the first time in his Real Madrid career, does not believe in a third force in Spain and last night wrote off in the Premier League as a potential one horse race this season. [LNB]'Chelsea have only lost twice this season and look at how many times the other sides, like Manchester United, Arsenal and Manchester City have dropped points,' he told Spain's Cadena Ser. [LNB]'It will be a two-horse race in England and if Manchester Untied don't watch out it will be a one-horse race.' [LNB]And with a dig at Rafa Benitez he added: 'In Italy perhaps there are more contenders because no one is doing well.' [LNB]Reacting to referee Jose Luis Paradas, who sent him to the stands on Wednesday, he said: 'He has shown 250 yellow cards and 14 reds so far in less than 50 games. The match could have been refereed with the referee sitting on a chair in the centre-circle.'[LNB] Cristiano Ronaldo played a pass with his back last weekend - cushioning the ball between shoulder blades to play in a team-mate (left). His victims were not too happy. [LNB]'A lack of respect,' cried Atletico Madrid midfielder Raul Garcia, who told the former Manchester United star: 'You wouldn't do that if it is was 0-0.' [LNB]Correct. He wouldn't and didn't. He waited until his team were cruising to their 12th victory in 18 unbeaten Madrid derbies and then he did it. [LNB]Criticize him for faking facial injuries by all means but not for entertaining the public.[LNB][LNB] [LNB] Explore more:People: Robert Pires, Cristiano Ronaldo, Rafa Benitez Places: Barcelona, Spain, Italy, United Kingdom Organisations: Scottish Premier League
