Villarreal sealed a historic victory late on via Samuel Chukwueze goal against Bayern Munich, defeating the German giants 2-1 on aggregate on Tuesday night. Amongst the scenes of jubilation, there was a clear sense of vindication coursing through the Villarreal staff and squad after the match.
Dani Parejo joined Unai Emery and the official Villarreal Twitter account in thinly veiled criticism of Bayern’s attitude towards them in the tie.
Welcome to 𝗨𝗘𝗙𝗔 𝗙𝗔𝗥𝗠𝗘𝗥𝗦 𝗟𝗘𝗔𝗚𝗨𝗘 🏆.#UCL pic.twitter.com/vgfymTlzn8
— Villarreal CF (@VillarrealCF) April 12, 2022
Speaking to Dairio AS, Parejo was cutting with his words.
“When the draw happened and Villarreal came out, the manager of Bayern, who I don’t know, I think he lacked respect for us and for football because he wanted to seal the tie in the first leg. When you spit in the air, it tends to fall on you.”
Parejo was then asked about knocking out two more historically successful opponents than themselves.
“It’s just that in the end, in football and in life, it holds true for every situation… It’s true that they are Bayern and we are Villarreal. They were favourites, but you have to demonstrate that on the pitch.”
“We spoke about it in the dressing room and it was a small show of disrespect to the club and to us as players. In two matches we were bigger than Bayern.”
Villarreal have made the semi-finals for just the second time in their history, a remarkable 50% of the occasions they have competed in the Champions League. Unai Emery also proved his critics wrong and will have another chance to do so against either Liverpool or Benfica in the next round.
