Villarreal has Raúl Albiol as one of its references, a leader on and off the field. The central is vital for Emery too for his experience in competitions such as the Champions League. And it is that Albiol is, by far, the yellow player with the most games in the Champions League behind him. His 60 duels double the next on that list.
After Albiol, They are Coquelin (31 games), Parejo (29), Alcácer (19) and Alberto Moreno (16). In addition, the defender played Champions with Valencia, Real Madrid and Naples. To that experience is added that of being the yellow player who He knows Atalanta best after his adventure in Italy. And it is that the defender played nine times against the whole of Bergamo, of which he was able to win six times, draw one and lose two of them.
Of those nine precedents, in four of them Gasperini was on the Atalanta bench. Albiol achieved three victories and reaped a defeat against the Italian coach.