LA LIGA has long been home to some of the world’s best attacking talent, and the 2019/20 season sees the Spanish top flight’s mega powers as strong up front as ever.
This summer, Real Madrid bolstered their forward line with the additions of Eden Hazard and Luka Jovic, Barcelona spent €120m on World Cup winner Antoine Griezmann, and Atletico Madrid smashed their transfer record to snap up the most gifted teenage striker in Europe, Joao Felix.
But for all the goal power of La Liga’s expected contenders, it is Villarreal who, after seven rounds of fixtures, are the division’s highest scorers, their 18 goals – which gives them a remarkable average of 2.57 goals per game – two better than Barca, four more than Madrid, and more than double Atletico’s paltry return of seven.
Yet Villarreal have been thus far unable to parlay their extraordinary form in front of goal into a consistent run of results. Of course, at this early juncture of the campaign, the table is not gospel. But the fact the Yellow Submarine are eighth, outside the European-qualification places, suggests their scoring output is papering over a few cracks.
You have to go all the way down to 15th-place Real Betis, whom Villarreal destroyed 5-1 last weekend, to find a team with a worse defensive record than the 11 goals Javier Calleja’s men have shipped so far this term.
While they certainly impressed in that thumping win over Betis, likewise while running Barcelona close in a 2-1 defeat at the Camp Nou and in a creditable 2-2 draw with league leaders Real Madrid, there has been a disappointing 2-1 defeat to local rivals Levante and a 4-4 draw with Granada in which they threw away a two-goal lead.
There have been signs of things beginning to click into place for Villarreal lately, though. They’ve conceded only three times in their last four games, two of which against champions Barcelona, beating every opponent except the Catalans in that period.
Irrespective of their inconsistency at the start of the campaign, Villarreal are an engrossing watch on an individual level, not least for the heart-warming second act of Santi Cazorla’s career playing out at the Stadio de la Ceramica.
Cazorla’s goal against Barcelona tonight, what a player pic.twitter.com/IKzVFo6JfD
— Calum (@CalArsenal) September 24, 2019
The former Arsenal playmaker endured the kind of injury hell that might’ve broken even the most resilient sportsmen. At one stage, after missing the best part of two years of football, a forced retirement appeared a certainty, and a skin graft required to heal multiple ankle surgeries means a tattoo originally situated on his forearm now resides next to his foot.
It’s remarkable, then, not only that Cazorla has been able to resume his career but, at 34, is playing some of his best-ever football. There remains a Cazorla-shaped hole in Arsenal’s midfield, and the Spanish playmaker is showing why he is such a unique and difficult-to-replace talent, oozing class with every touch, shredding defences asunder with passes other players don’t see. With four goals and three assists already to his name, no player has been directly involved in more La Liga goals this season.
Striker Gerard Moreno, in his second spell with the club after signing from Espanyol in the summer of 2018, is also in the form of his career, and with six La Liga goals and one assist so far in 2019/20, is the division’s leading scorer and the only player who can match Cazorla for direct goal involvements.
Nigerian winger Samuel Chukwueze, described by Cazorla as being “magical with the ball at his feet”, provides impetus and invention from out wide, with the 20-year-old’s penchant for cutting inside to threaten goal drawing comparisons to Arjen Robben and attracting attention from some of Europe’s biggest clubs.
Villarreal captain Cazorla salutes Chukwueze:
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"Chukwueze played a role after his introduction. He’s magical with the ball at his feet.
The plan is for him to continue progressing for the good of the team.”
Via ~ Owngoal Nigeria pic.twitter.com/CqUtHYunW4
— FAST TRACK (@Fastrack100) September 29, 2019
In the centre of midfield, two players regarded as flops during their short Premier League stays have formed an authoritative and formidable tandem. The towering Vicente Iborra made little impact in two seasons with Leicester City but has relaunched and rejuvenated himself back in Spain, having signed for Villarreal in a £9m deal in January this year.
Alongside Iborra sits Cameroonian international André-Frank Zambo Anguissa, whose dire form with relegated Fulham last season, following a £22.3m switch from Marseille, saw him crowned the worst signing of 2018/19 on many post-season lists. Loaned from Fulham to Villarreal this season, Anguissa, who is still only 23, has been outstanding as the Yellow Submarine’s deepest midfielder, precise in his use of the ball, dominant in the air and diligent in his defensive duties.
With so many interesting individual plots, and so prolific in front of goal, whether they go on to iron out their inefficiencies or not, Villarreal are appointment viewing this season.
