Villarreal may not have the largest fanbase to call on when it comes to European away days, but don’t let that delude you into the idea that they wouldn’t be making noise.
Certainly the sort of scenes that occurred at Camp Nou when Eintracht Frankfurt visited Barcelona would require more than half the town to attend.
Yet the Yellow Submarine have been making themselves felt in Liverpool throughout the day. In fact, more so than plenty of more prestigious clubs.
Of all the European away teams to come to Liverpool this year, Villareal have won the mini-tournament of 'how early in the day can I hear the fans in the street from my flat'. Just past 11am is a decent showing.
— Euan Burns (@burns_euan) April 27, 2022
Officially 3,000 fans have tickets to the match and would have travelled by club organised transport to the game. The club also subsidised tickets and transport to the match, meaning that both would cost Villarreal fans just €300 all in. Naturally they sold out their allocation without any trouble.
They've brought some crowd over. pic.twitter.com/JMl9gpsVPZ
— Tony Scott (@Tony_Scott11) April 27, 2022
¡𝗢𝗢𝗢𝗢𝗢𝗢𝗢𝗛𝗛𝗛𝗛𝗛𝗛…
𝗩𝗜𝗟𝗟𝗔𝗥𝗥𝗘𝗔𝗟 💛!#UCL pic.twitter.com/gVYHGS62cx
— Villarreal CF (@VillarrealCF) April 27, 2022
Even with their comparatively small numbers, in fact almost because of it, the Villarreal fans make for an impressive sight as they make their way to Anfield.
This is what you call support!!! Not a plastic flag in sight!!!! UP THE REDMEN #lfc pic.twitter.com/em1AtGgG8z
— Lindsey Marie Smith (@liverbirdlinzie) April 27, 2022
There they will be met with a raucous atmosphere of its own. Seasoned Champions League watchers will be aware of the cliches surrounding the atmosphere at Anfield on European nights, but they exist for a reason. It’s set up to be a noisy one.