Roberto Soldado has once again made history with Granada in continental competition. The Valencian scored the Granada team's first Europa League goal in Albania against Teuta, in the first of three qualifying rounds prior to the group stage. The victory was 0-4. His two goals against Molde unleashed madness among Granada. In Los Cármenes he scored the 2-0 that gave an interesting income to solve the troubles that came in the second leg. With 1-0 against and the Norwegians overturned, magic appeared in the form of a sensational header after a great center from Yangel Herrera. Golazo and to quarters.
This great striker has an unprecedented brand in Spanish football. And it is that he is the only one who has managed to score in European tournaments with five different Spanish teams, said Granada, Osasuna, Villarreal, Valencia and Real Madrid. I was with the Navarrese team in the 2006-07 season when he played the qualifying phase of the Champions League and reached the semifinals of the then UEFA Cup (now Europa League) and he scored in the semifinal match against Sevilla in the first leg. That 1-0 was traced back in the fly with the sevillistas.
His first 'euro goal' was scored with Real Madrid in a Champions League group stage against Olympiacos on 22-9-2005 at 86 'of a match that ended with an agonizing 2-1. With Valencia he also scored on 10-14-2010 in Turkey against Bursaport (0-4). That same year he scored two goals against Rangers and although he did not get to play, he was in both games against Manchester United, group stage. More than ten years later, he will meet again with this team as a Granada player.
With Villarreal He also scored continental goals in 2015-16 against Dinamo Minsk of Belarus demonstrating his skill and intelligence in the final meters. Now he continues to write his legend with Granada to present battle against nothing less than the 'Red Devils'.
The kings of the Europa League
We rescued a very interesting data from OPTA. Soldado became the fourth player to score for four different teams in UEFA / Europa League history. We discount Real Madrid from the aforementioned because it was in the Champions League. Other players who did it were Joao Pinto, Pierre-Alain Frau and Lazaros Christodopoulos. This Sunday Soldado is going to meet again with one of the teams where he left his stamp, Valencia.