Fernando Roig's Villarreal Suffering Before Liverpool Champions League Clash at Anfield

Fernando Roig will have a rough time at Anfield on Tuesday. The Villarreal president, marking three decades in the role, admits that watching his team play fills him with a level of anxiety that has not eased since his first match in the directors' box. A visit to Liverpool, for all the distress it causes him, stands as a symbol of how far a modest club has come on its journey to becoming a European reference.

• Fernando Roig says he gets anxious and suffers badly during Villarreal matches, even on nights as big as Anfield.
• The president has spent 30 years in charge, the longest-running presidency in European football.
• He recalls taking over a debt-ridden club, making survival a priority and building a sustainable project.
• Pau Torres stands out to him as the player who best represents the connection between the town and Villarreal.
• The academy has produced or developed talents like Rodri, Álex Baena and Yeremy Pino.

Why Fernando Roig Suffers Through Every Villarreal Match

The first time Roig led the club from the stand, he watched a Sunday night Second Division match against Badajoz end in a 3-0 defeat. The tiny whitewashed ground, at half capacity, offered little comfort. The president does not describe himself as a nervous man, but rather as one overcome by worry. Anxiety, he explains, is what dominates him. More than a thousand games later, the script has not changed.

I don't get nervous. It's worse: I get worried, very anxious. I suffer a lot.

The encounter with Liverpool marks the fifth meeting between the two clubs. Roig's routine is clear: follow the morning training session, travel with the squad and share a meal with the delegation. The next day, before the match, he will watch the under-19s. That is a moment he truly enjoys. The senior Champions League fixture, by contrast, pushes him to a level of stress that only fades with time.

From Badajoz 1997 to Villarreal's European Semifinals

Roig's arrival at Villarreal in May 1997 came as an act of necessity rather than a straightforward business opportunity. The club carried debts close to 80 million euros, had barely more than 1,500 members and its president was seriously ill. Yet the Valencian businessman saw a chance to give something back to the province that housed his ceramics factories: 98% of Spain's production in the sector sits within a 50-kilometre radius of the town.

With José Manuel Llaneza playing a key role in the sporting project, Villarreal built a professional structure from nothing. There was no training ground and no suitable stadium. The first aim was simply to assemble a squad capable of promotion and create an academy. Growth came fast: they went up, came straight back down, rose again and reached the Champions League semifinal in 2006, with the elimination of Inter among the highlights.

The 2012 Relegation That Forced Villarreal to Reinvent Its Model

The second relegation, in 2012, was a devastating blow. That season Villarreal competed in the Champions League and ended up dropping into the Second Division in the final seconds of the last game. Roig describes it as a truly awful moment. Players had to be sold and the project rebuilt. The president eventually sold a small stake he held in the supermarket chain Mercadona to help balance the books.

Villarreal separated from the broader Pamesa conglomerate, though the sponsorship remained. Since then, survival comes first every season: reaching 42 points is reason to celebrate. Beyond that, European qualification has become an expectation for a club that cannot match the salary structure of the continent's giants. Sustainability is the foundation: spend no more than the club can generate.

Pau Torres, Rodri and Villarreal's Academy Bet

Among all the players to have worn the yellow shirt, Roig singles out Pau Torres. Born in the town, the centre-back lifted the 2021 Europa League title, the club's first major trophy. That final in Gdansk was the one match the president could not attend, after testing positive for covid the week before the game. Despite certificates from several labs showing negative results, UEFA would not allow him to travel with the team bubble. Torres dedicated the victory to him and later handed over his winner's medal, now displayed in Roig's office.

The list of homegrown or early-captured talents is long. Santi Cazorla arrived as a teenager and produced a memorable second spell after overcoming severe injuries. Rodri spent five seasons at the club before succeeding at Atlético Madrid, Manchester City and with the Spanish national team, winning a Ballon d'Or. Álex Baena and Yeremy Pino also grew within the structure, clear examples of the ecosystem Roig wants to protect.

Pride in a 52,000-Person Town After Beating Napoli

The morning after Villarreal's win against Napoli, Roig sits at his office in the Pamesa headquarters, surrounded by photographs, footballs and mementoes. He is calmer. That peace, he admits, only lasts a couple of days: Saturday brings Elche and the suffering starts again. Even so, the president insists the satisfaction afterwards makes it all worthwhile. What drives him is the sense of community, the chance for the town and the province to enjoy their team.

Roig is reluctant to put an exact figure on his total investment, although he suggests it may be around 180 or 200 million euros between infrastructure and growth. The stadium, expanded beyond 23,000 seats, reflects the club's constant evolution. His son Fernando, the current CEO, now leads the day-to-day operation. The president jokes that his only remaining role is to suffer during matches. In 30 years, Villarreal have played 27 seasons in the top flight and 19 in European competitions. A record that Anfield confirms better than anywhere.