This Tuesday, Villarreal gave the surprise and did the great feat of qualifying for the semifinals of the Champions Leaguefollowing drawing 1-1 once morest Bayern Munich at the Allianz Arena, a score that adds to the 1-0 victory in the first leg that was played at the Estadio de la Cerámica, thus achieving their pass to the next round.
It is not the first time that the Spanish team has reached this stage in the most important tournament in Europe. For the 2005/2006 season, those led at that time by Chilean coach Manuel Pellegrini, reached the semifinals for the first time. following a great campaign where they left teams like Manchester United, Benfica, Rangers, Inter Milan, among others, on the way.
Pellegrini’s team, led by great players like Diego Frolán, Juan Román Riquelme, Javi Venta and Juan Pablo Sorín, He had among his squad a current idol of Junior de Barranquilla, the Uruguayan goalkeeper Sebastián Vierawho was an important piece for the Spanish team to be one step away from the grand final.
Viera in Villarreal
The goalkeeper, who was 22 years old at the time, came to the ‘yellow submarine’ from Nacional de Uruguay where his good performances in the 2005 Uruguayan championshipmade several teams in Europe take notice of him, but in the end it would be the Spanish club who would take over his sporting rights.
Viera, who is currently playing the Betplay League and the Copa Libertadores with Junior, was important for the Chilean coach’s scheme being in seven of the 14 games played by Villarreal in that edition of the Champions League. He was also a starter in the final match once morest Inter Milan for the second leg of the quarterfinals that would qualify them for the semifinals.
In the end, the dream of being in a European final disappeared following being eliminated by Arsenal who won 1-0 in the first leg and 0-0 in the second leg played in Villarreal and that it had its dose of drama when Juan Román Riquelme, at minute 88, had the option to tie the series from the penalty spot, but the German goalkeeper Jens Lehman saved this shot. Both meetings, Viera saw them from the bench.