'Villarreal's rise a miracle

Guillem Balague talks about Villarreal's rise to the top of
La Liga
In his weekly column, Sky Sports' Spanish football expert
Guillem Balague looks at Villarreal's rise to the top of La
Liga, as well as answering questions on the title race after
Lionel Messi's injury and Valencia's troubles…
For the first time in their 92-year history Villarreal are
top of La Liga.
And it is a miracle because, as we have explained many
times, Villarreal, who had never even played a top-flight
game until 1998, is a town of just over 50,000 inhabitants.
During the summer the club lost 10 players and signed 11.
They've been very clever in how they have gone about
their business because they've hardly spent any money.
The club's net spend is just £2m because of the sales of
Giovani dos Santos, Javier Aquino, Gerard Moreno,
Luciano Vietto, and Ikechukwu Uche.
For more or less the same cost - including the sale of Aleix
Garcia to Manchester City - they've managed to bring in
Roberto Soldado, Denis Suarez, Cedric Bakambu, Samu
Castillejo and Samuel Garcia.
Villarreal's players have celebrated five victories already
this season
Where they have also been clever is in the loan market.
For example, they have brought players in on loan for no
cost such as goalkeeper Alphonse Areola and forwards
Leo Baptistao and Adrian Lopez.
Through the manager Marcelino this is a team that has a
very clear idea of what they have to do. They work really
hard without the ball and run a lot. There are no
superstars so everybody has to be part of attack and
defence.
They like to get the ball forward quickly but they also
have the ability to pass the ball around and slow the game
down if they need to.
Marcelino has had a huge effect on Villarreal
Up to this season there was always a smaller squad at the
club. There was rotation but everybody knew what their
best team was. Now it's a team where every single place is
up for grabs.
There is a lot of competition and perhaps it is even the
best squad they've ever had. They have had a better 11
in the past when Juan Roman Riquelme was around but
the squad is much stronger this season and that may
reflect into a more consistent season.
Leonardo Baptistao cebelrates with his Villarreal team-
mates after scoring the winner against Atletico Madrid
It's great to see Villarreal, who play the same way
throughout the lower teams, at the top. The club has had
an idea of the football they want to play for more than
15 years. They are now starting to see the reward of that
and it's wonderful to see.