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Football

29.12.2009 12:29

Villarreal a home for ex-Barca stars

Pau Ramírez

Since their return to the top flight, Villarreal have welcomed a number of ex-Barca players to the Madrigal, including some of the Catalan club’s most respected figures.

There were three ex-Barca players in the Villarreal team which started their first season in the top flight in 1998 - Serer, Robert and Thomas Christiansen. Robert Fernández, played for Barca between 1986 and 1990 and joined Villarreal in 1995, staying for four seasons. Josep Serer learned his trade at the Masia and played eight games for Villarrealin Primera, whilst Christiansen was a key member of the promotion winning side, though he moved to Terrassa in the 99/2000 season after Villarreal were relegated.

Amor – a luxury signing

Villarreal were back in the Primera Liga again for the 2000/01 season and they started the campaign with a real luxury signing - Guillermo Amor, who came back to the Spanish game after his time at Fiorentina in Italy. Two more ex-Barca youngsters joined him at the Madrigal: Xavi Roca and Quique Álvarez, whilst Victor Muñoz, a Barca hero from the 80s, was in the manager’s seat from 2000 to 2003 and the Argentinean
Juan Antonio Pizzi joined in the 2001/02 season to replace the injured Martín Palermo.

Reina first direct move

The first Barca player to move straight from the Nou Camp to Villarreal was Pepe Reina, who joined in 2002, before leaving for Liverpool. A year later, Roger Garcia and Juan Román Riquelme followed and the Argentinean soon became a key player in Villarreal’s success, guiding them to a Champions League semi final in 2006 against Arsenal, who eventually faced Barca in that year’s final.

Edmílson the most recent signing

More recently, the Brazilian Sonny Anderson played for one season(2003) and Juan Pablo Sorín was at the club between 2004 and 2006, whilst José Edmílson joined for six months after finishing his contract with Barca in 2008. Finally, coach Ernesto Valverde, who played with Barca between 1988 and 1990, joined last summer.

Belletti

There’s only one player who has made the journey in the opposite direction - Juliano Belletti, who came to Barca after two excellent seasons at Villarreal between 2002 and 2004 and became a hero of the Paris Champions League winning team. The Uruguayan defender Martín Cáceres signed for Villarreal in the summer of 2007, but was loaned out to Recreativo de Huelva and never actually played for the team, joining Barca after a year in Andalucía.