After scoring a late equaliser against Espanyol, Santiago was truly recognised by Villarreal fans for the first time, and in this small town they felt the kindness that people unleashed on him at every moment, but the bigger tests followed.

After defeating Greek hegemon Panathinaikos in the knockout round of 16 of the Champions League in two legs, the quarter-finals giants also welcomed their new opponents in the quarter-finals draw as scheduled, Manchester United vs. Porto, Bayern vs. Barcelona, Chelsea vs. Liverpool, and Villarreal met Arsenal, a team that had been on a rollercoaster ride in the league and fell out of the title race early, hoping to save face in the Champions League.

When drawing this opponent, even if he is not on the scene, Saint-Tiago can clearly see the helplessness of the club manager at the moment, no way, I believe that most of the teammates who pay attention to this draw at this time will have this expression, including Saintie himself, because this is definitely one of the opponents that Villarreal does not want to meet in this quarter-finals.

Sure enough, on the second day's training ground, most of the players gathered around to discuss the next opponents of the Champions League, Arsenal, and even the coaching staff on the sidelines did not stop the players. When Santi just finished changing his jersey and stepped on the court, he was immediately pulled into the discussion group, looking at his teammates who were a little worried, Santi listened carefully for a long time and sorted out the context.

As we all know, in this quarter-finals, the traditionally strong Serie A clubs have all been swept aside, as have the slightly inferior league clubs such as Ligue 1. Looking at the remaining clubs, Porto are the number one experience baby, while Villarreal is not far behind.

However, despite being regarded as an experience baby by the rest of the big clubs, in the eyes of the Yellow Submariners, in addition to Porto, the Premier League, which occupies half of the country in the quarterfinals, is definitely the opponent they are most likely to encounter, and if they really want to choose, it is undoubtedly the most eager to meet the upstart Chelsea.

The flowers are similar every year, but the people are different every year. When the Premier League semi-finals were promoted last summer, it is believed that the four resourceful managers and their disciples were convinced: "We are ready. However, as the season drew to a close, Ferguson and his United could shout in a slightly sarcastic tone: "Where are you? ”

Unlike previous seasons ago, last summer due to the impact of the subprime mortgage crisis, Chelsea, who has always burned money, has also become cautious, the team's operation to introduce Robinho for a long time, but the bicycle boy was intercepted by Manchester City before the transfer window closed, Chelsea, which spent a lot of time on the Brazilian, was unable to buy more reinforcements, except for Bosingwa, who was confirmed early, the Blues only signed Deco all summer, and it was precisely because of the unfavorable recruitment, Chelsea's tragedy this season was foregone back then.

Chelsea did not expect that Essien had to be sidelined for six months due to an injury sustained for the national team at the start of the season and a serious knee injury, leaving the Blues without a key midfielder to struggle under Scolari. However, the same unexpected happened, as the Blues led the table for 12 weekends after the first 15 rounds of the league, scoring 13 goals and winning four in a row without conceding a single goal in the four games between rounds 10 and 13.

However, the lack of manpower ultimately took its toll on the Blues, who were out of the top of the league from the 15th-round defeat to Arsenal until the end of the season. What's worse is that Abu Abou, who had vowed at the beginning of the season that he would trust Scolari, finally sacked the Brazilian coach in February, and just one day later, the club brought in Guus Hiddink as manager.

Changing the helmsman in such a short period of time can be seen as a matter of vigor, but it is also enough to see that Chelsea's mentality is actually quite impetuous. Because objectively speaking, Scolari's record of 20 wins, 11 draws and 5 losses in 36 games is not bad, and if the team does not suffer frequent injuries, the record will obviously not fluctuate greatly.

However, among the many options, Chelsea chose the most quick one.

There have been many cases in history to prove that changing the manager is a taboo, but Chelsea just don't believe in it. After bringing in Guus Hiddink, the results have gradually shown signs of recovery, but it is also true that the team has not been able to return to the top of the league table, and what is even more fatal is that since the first day he took over Chelsea, Hiddink has repeatedly emphasized the idea that "I will leave at the end of the season".

Imagine whether the Blues players would have any hopes for the future after learning that the manager in front of them was only a transitional figure, and it is for this reason that Chelsea's attempts to overtake Manchester United and change their lives have always remained in the theoretical stage.

Therefore, in the eyes of Bayern, Barcelona and other giants, Chelsea, led by the temporary coach, is undoubtedly the third experience baby in addition to Porto and Villarreal, so for the young Villarreal, the lineup is not neat and has just completed the adjustment, and the opponent they want to meet most in addition to Porto is of course the unstable Chelsea.

But what they didn't expect was that Chelsea didn't meet, so many opponents just met Arsenal, who is recognized as the second in the Premier League semi-finals, even if Arsenal is no longer what it used to be in the league, but it is still one of the most staggering opponents in world football, its strength has long been deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, and meeting the Gunners is definitely a huge challenge for Villarreal.

"All right, boys, stop standing there and whispering like an aunt! Grab the ball at your feet and get back to training! Mr. Pellegrini will soon have a new tactic for you, so hurry up and get moving! Before the game started, how could he put on a grinding and chirping look! ”

Seeing that the relaxed atmosphere on the training ground was no longer the same as before, the assistant coach quickly stepped up to interrupt the enthusiasm of the players, and under his organization, the Villarreal squad began a new training session, and the team's manager Manuel Pellegrini arrived at the training ground afterwards.

It can be seen that the Chilean is also feeling a lot of pressure on the upcoming rival, after all, in front of Professor Arsene Wenger, he Pellegrini is still very young.