Fernando Roig, the longest-serving president in the Spanish football elite (since 1997), serves AS hours before taking heading to Gdansk, where your Villarreal will play the first final in its history against a classic like the Manchester United.
Did you fear missing the final due to COVID?
Well, I have had almost no symptoms. He caught me vaccinated. The worst has been being locked up for ten days and without being able to have contact.
Are you very nervous about games like this?
To tell you the truth, I already have a stomachache, that one of the big dates. For more years that pass, for more things that you have lived, that is always there. You think that you can win, that you can achieve it, and that makes you always have those nerves.
Monday marked the 23rd anniversary of the first promotion to First. Did you imagine when a European final started?
A final as such did not cross my mind. I thought about making a great club, being in the First Division and being a solid club. To have a quarry and to be able to fight among the best, to be a serious club, that was what I thought. But only four teams make it to the finals in Europe and two in the Cup in Spain. There are many teams that dream and very few that arrive.
Are they heavy?
Totally. We are not by luck or by carom. We have fought it every year. We have done things wrong, but in the global count we have been right rather than wrong, that is why we are here today.
Do you consider it a prize?
It is an award for all of us who are here and those who have passed through the club since I arrived and before.
Do you see yourself being a champion?
I think we are going to beat United. By illusion it will not be. We are not favorites, you just have to compare the budgets of the two teams to see their potential. But this is football and in Compostela, what we talked about before, we weren't favorites either and it happened. Now we are in a good moment, we must give a good image, compete as best as possible and, above all, we must enjoy.
You asked for a friendly against United after the transfer of Forlán and they said no. Now it will be the third time they really face each other, and above all in a final. How things change…
That was a request for the signing of Forlán, we wanted to have more contact and it seemed like a good opportunity for them to come and play. It was a very important team and it couldn't be. But football wanted us to face each other in the Champions League a couple of times, and we haven't lost or conceded any goals. Now we play a final, I hope that streak continues.
He became president in 1997. Does this final come to the club at its best?
I think it is, although the main one is not having been able to count on the people in La Cerámica. We are in a final, the team has a serious long-term project, it is financially balanced and self-sufficient. We also have a great field, a great sports city, grassroots football is in a great moment. For me it is the best time.
The signing of Emery has gone well for them. They brought him to take that step forward which is to break the wall of the semifinals.
It was an important gamble. I think it was a good option, a technician with a lot of experience at a high level, and that experience was what we thought could go very well for us.
Winning the Europa League would be a sporting, social and economic bomb …
Undoubtedly. It would be a very big leap. From winning to not doing it, things change a lot. It's more prestige, more money, you play in the Champions League… It's the great goal and it would be great for the club. We could use it at all levels.
And if in the end you don't win, what would it mean?
Well, losing a final, with what it means and what I have said. But right now I am not thinking about it, I am not thinking about it. But if we lose it won't be a drama. We have been among the best, we have played a final and we will focus to be able to come back again. We will play the Conference and we will continue fighting.
Will you make a better team next year no matter what?
That is always the idea, to be better every year. Good players come from below, that's always important. The idea is always to improve.
With their son leading the reins they are not bad …
His was not an easy task, he took the team to reassemble it and to make it a sustainable team, with economic balance and that was competitive. He has been working for a long time and he has succeeded, since we are a strong team economically, strong in sport, with great infrastructures … and in a European final.