Football
Sam Marsden, Barcelona correspondent 6y

Barcelona boss Ernesto Valverde facing awkward return to Villarreal

Above each entrance gate at Espanyol's Cornella-El Prat home, there's a name of a club legend. The name above gate 89 is Ernesto Valverde. It remains there, despite the fact that Valverde, Espanyol's coach between 2006 and 2008, was appointed at rivals Barcelona this summer. It's a clear sign of the respect Valverde has, not just at Espanyol, but universally. Wherever he's worked, he's been loved. Well, nearly everywhere.

Already this season, Valverde has been warmly welcomed "home" in Athens and in Bilbao, by Olympiakos and Athletic Bilbao fans who would have him back in their dugouts in a heartbeat. Even at Valencia, where he worked for just six months, he's still fondly remembered. The club's supporters wanted him to stay, but the lure of a return to Bilbao was not something he wanted to let pass by.

But there is one stain on his CV, one set of supporters who don't remember Valverde's time at their club as a particularly good one. And on Sunday, he revisits that stain as unbeaten Barcelona look to get back to winning ways in La Liga against Villarreal after back-to-back draws.

Valverde ended his first spell in Greece in 2009 and took over an adept Villarreal side. Manuel Pellegrini had made them a force not just domestically -- they had finished second in the league in 2008 -- but on the European stage, too. That success had led Pellegrini to Real Madrid, and Villarreal president Fernando Roig turned to Valverde, handing him, what he called the "club's best-ever squad."

Giuseppe Rossi, Santi Cazorla, Marcos Senna and Robert Pires were the headliners at El Madrigal -- now named the Estadio de la Ceramica -- at the time. But there were also lesser-known names who were equally as important. The likes of Diego Godin, Cani and Bruno Soriano.

Initially, Valverde was popular -- it's difficult to find a reason to really dislike him, even if you want to -- but things quickly went downhill. Valverde tried to change too much, too soon. Switching from Pellegrini's 4-4-2 to a 4-2-3-1 or a 4-3-3 didn't go down well with all the players, who struggled to fulfil his requests for the team to play higher, increase the tempo, exert greater pressure and open the pitch out. It just didn't really work.

After a dreadful start, including a loss to Xerez, Villarreal were bottom in October. Things slowly improved, but after a Copa del Rey elimination to Celta Vigo and a January loss at home to Osasuna, Valverde's job was on the line. The fans had chanted for him to go, and Roig responded. "A statement on the club's website, cold and concise, announced the drastic decision," El Pais reported at the time.

Villarreal ended that season seventh with Juan Carlos Garrido and would return to the Champions League in 2011, but in 2012 they were relegated. They've since rebuilt themselves, as Valverde has done, bouncing back from his Madrigal blip. This weekend, they meet as members of La Liga's top six.

But you can't imagine Valverde is a man who dwells on the past. He will be much more focused on the future and on getting a result which will, at least, maintain his side's five-point lead over Valencia at the top of the Primera Division.

To do that, he will need his centre-back pairing of Thomas Vermaelen and Gerard Pique -- there's no Samuel Umtiti, and this game is likely to come too soon for Javier Mascherano -- to keep one of the league's hottest strikers quiet. With nine goals, only Lionel Messi has scored more than the in-form Cedric Bakambu. The Congolese front man is part of a dangerous two-pronged attack with Carlos Bacca, who has four goals. They will pose a big test for Vermaelen and Pique.

Elsewhere, Valverde should welcome back Andres Iniesta to the side and, excluding Ousmane Dembele, it's only really in defence where his team look short.

Win at the Estadio de la Ceramica, and Barca are guaranteed to have an eight-point lead over Real Madrid going into the Clasico. Beat Deportivo La Coruna next weekend at Camp Nou, when Madrid don't have a fixture due to their Club World Cup participation, and it will be 11 points. Then, a win at the Bernabeu could open up a 14-point gap for Valverde's men at Christmas. Not bad for a guy who was sacked by Villarreal.

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