10 years ago: A memento from the first visit to Anfield by the 'Yellow Submarine'
The yellow submarine of Villarreal sails into Anfield for a third time on Tuesday evening, a decade since first facing Liverpool.
A place in the 2016 Europa League final was the prize at stake when the Spanish club made their maiden voyage to meet the Reds, and the distinctive souvenir pictured above, presented by visiting officials, serves as a tangible reminder of the occasion.
The nickname ‘Yellow Submarine’ (El Submarino Amarillo) was adopted by Villarreal in 1966-67, after the Beatles song of the same name topped the UK music charts.
At the time, Villarreal, in the all-yellow kit they first wore in 1947, were chasing promotion to the third tier of Spanish football. It quickly became their anthem and, just like You’ll Never Walk Alone at Anfield, it has since been played before every match at their home stadium.
Fast-forward four decades and Villarreal had made rapid strides, becoming an established team in La Liga and starting to make a name for themselves in Europe.
After negotiating their way through the 2015-16 Europa League group phase, they progressed impressively past Napoli, Bayer Leverkusen and Sparta Prague to reach the last four.
Liverpool’s campaign, with Jürgen Klopp having taken over as manager earlier in the season, had also been steadily gaining momentum. Fuelled by victories over Manchester United and Borussia Dortmund in the previous rounds, the feel-good factor was slowly returning to the Kop.
A semi-final showdown was the first competitive meeting between these two clubs.
The first leg in Spain was drifting towards a goalless draw until a stoppage-time goal clinched victory for Villarreal.
At Anfield the following week, Liverpool levelled the aggregate score inside seven minutes courtesy of an own goal, before Daniel Sturridge and Adam Lallana struck in the second half to seal a place in the final.
Although Sevilla ultimately lifted the trophy to deny a silver lining to Klopp’s first season in charge, sinking the Yellow Submarine in 2016 proved to be one of the stepping stones to future success for the Reds.
This story has been reproduced from Tuesday’s matchday programme. Order a copy online here.
If you have any interesting items of Reds memorabilia that you would like to share with the LFC Museum, please contact [email protected].
