# 2015–16 Villarreal CF season

The 2015–16 season was Villarreal Club de Fútbol's 93rd season in existence and the club's 3rd consecutive season in the top flight of Spanish football. In addition to the domestic league, Villarreal participated in this season's editions of the Copa del Rey and the UEFA Europa League. The season covered the period from 1 July 2015 to 30 June 2016.

## Players
### Current squad

    As of 31 August 2015
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 1 | GK | ESP | Sergio Asenjo |
| 2 | DF | ESP | Mario (vice-captain) |
| 3 | DF | SVN | Bojan Jokić |
| 4 | MF | ESP | Tomás Pina |
| 5 | DF | ARG | Mateo Musacchio |
| 6 | DF | ESP | Víctor Ruiz |
| 7 | MF | ESP | Samu |
| 8 | MF | MEX | Jonathan dos Santos |
| 9 | FW | ESP | Roberto Soldado |
| 10 | FW | BRA | Léo Baptistão (on loan from Atlético Madrid) |
| 11 | DF | ESP | Jaume Costa |
| 13 | GK | FRA | Alphonse Areola (on loan from Paris Saint-Germain) |
| 14 | MF | ESP | Manu Trigueros |
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 17 | FW | COD | Cédric Bakambu |
| 18 | MF | ESP | Denis Suárez |
| 19 | MF | ESP | Samu Castillejo |
| 20 | FW | ESP | Adrián (on loan from Porto) |
| 21 | MF | ESP | Bruno (captain) |
| 22 | DF | SRB | Antonio Rukavina |
| 23 | DF | ITA | Daniele Bonera |
| 24 | DF | CIV | Eric Bailly |
| 25 | GK | ARG | Mariano Barbosa |
| 26 | MF | ESP | Matías Nahuel |
| 27 | DF | ESP | Adrián Marín |
| 28 | MF | ESP | Alfonso Pedraza |
| 44 | DF | ESP | Pablo Íñiguez |

### Out on loan

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| — | DF | SRB | Aleksandar Pantić (on loan at Eibar) |
| — | MF | ESP | Javier Espinosa (on loan at Elche) |
| — | MF | ESP | Moi Gómez (on loan at Getafe) |
| — | MF | ESP | Sergio Marcos (on loan at Lugo) |

## Competitions
### Overall record

| Competition | First match | Last match | Starting round | Final position | Record | Record | Record | Record | Record | Record | Record | Record |
| Competition | First match | Last match | Starting round | Final position | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Win % |
| La Liga | 23 August 2015 | 15 May 2016 | Matchday 1 | 4th | 38 | 18 | 10 | 10 | 44 | 35 | +9 | 047.37 |
| Copa del Rey | 3 December 2015 | 13 January 2016 | Round of 32 | Round of 16 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 6 | 7 | −1 | 025.00 |
| UEFA Europa League | 17 September 2015 | 5 May 2016 | Group stage | Semi-finals | 14 | 9 | 3 | 2 | 23 | 13 | +10 | 064.29 |
| Total | Total | Total | Total | Total | 56 | 28 | 13 | 15 | 73 | 55 | +18 | 050.00 |
Source: Competitions

### La Liga
#### League table

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
| 2 | Real Madrid | 38 | 28 | 6 | 4 | 110 | 34 | +76 | 90 | Qualification for the Champions League group stage |
| 3 | Atlético Madrid | 38 | 28 | 4 | 6 | 63 | 18 | +45 | 88 | Qualification for the Champions League group stage |
| 4 | Villarreal | 38 | 18 | 10 | 10 | 44 | 35 | +9 | 64 | Qualification for the Champions League play-off round |
| 5 | Athletic Bilbao | 38 | 18 | 8 | 12 | 58 | 45 | +13 | 62 | Qualification for the Europa League group stage |
| 6 | Celta Vigo | 38 | 17 | 9 | 12 | 51 | 59 | −8 | 60 | Qualification for the Europa League group stage |
* ↑ Since the winners of the 2015–16 Copa del Rey, Barcelona, qualified for European competition based on league position, the spot awarded to the cup winners (Europa League group stage) was passed to the sixth-placed team and the spot awarded to the sixth-placed team (Europa League third qualifying round) was passed to the seventh-placed team.

#### Results summary

| Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Home | Home | Home | Home | Home | Home | Away | Away | Away | Away | Away | Away |
Source: Competitive matches

#### Results by round

| Round | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 35 | 36 | 37 | 38 |
| Ground | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | H | A | H | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | A | H | A |
| Result | D | W | W | W | W | W | L | L | D | W | L | D | L | W | W | W | W | W | W | D | D | W | D | W | D | W | D | L | L | D | W | W | L | L | D | W | L | L |
| Position | 7 | 6 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 |

#### Matches

Win  Draw  Loss

### UEFA Europa League
#### Group stage

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Rapid Wien | 6 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 10 | 6 | +4 | 15 | Advance to knockout phase |
| 2 | Villarreal | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 12 | 6 | +6 | 13 | Advance to knockout phase |
| 3 | Viktoria Plzeň | 6 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 8 | 10 | −2 | 4 | |
| 4 | Dinamo Minsk | 6 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 3 | 11 | −8 | 3 | |

#### Knockout phase
##### Semi-finals
## Statistics
### Appearances and goals

    Last updated on 15 May 2016
| No. | Pos | Nat | Player | Total | Total | La Liga | La Liga | Copa del Rey | Copa del Rey | Europa League | Europa League |
| No. | Pos | Nat | Player | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals |
| Goalkeepers ||||||||||||
| 1 | GK | ESP | Sergio Asenjo | 7 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| 13 | GK | FRA | Alphonse Areola | 37 | 0 | 32 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 |
| 25 | GK | ARG | Mariano Barbosa | 12 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 6 | 0 |
| Defenders ||||||||||||
| 2 | DF | ESP | Mario Gaspar | 44 | 2 | 32+1 | 2 | 0+1 | 0 | 10 | 0 |
| 5 | DF | ARG | Mateo Musacchio | 21 | 1 | 12+1 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 4+1 | 0 |
| 6 | DF | ESP | Víctor Ruiz | 51 | 0 | 32+3 | 0 | 1+1 | 0 | 14 | 0 |
| 11 | DF | ESP | Jaume Costa | 27 | 1 | 17+1 | 1 | 0+1 | 0 | 7+1 | 0 |
| 22 | DF | SRB | Antonio Rukavina | 31 | 0 | 14+4 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 10 | 0 |
| 23 | DF | ITA | Daniele Bonera | 16 | 0 | 10+4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1+1 | 0 |
| 24 | DF | CIV | Eric Bailly | 35 | 1 | 25 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 7 | 1 |
| 27 | DF | ESP | Adrián Marín | 16 | 0 | 10+1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0+2 | 0 |
| 44 | DF | ESP | Pablo Íñiguez | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 48 | DF | ESP | Miguelón | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Midfielders ||||||||||||
| 4 | MF | ESP | Tomás Pina | 36 | 1 | 19+8 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 6+1 | 1 |
| 7 | MF | ESP | Samu | 26 | 3 | 7+9 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 4+2 | 0 |
| 8 | MF | MEX | Jonathan dos Santos | 38 | 1 | 20+6 | 0 | 1+1 | 0 | 7+3 | 1 |
| 14 | MF | ESP | Manu Trigueros | 45 | 3 | 24+7 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 6+6 | 0 |
| 18 | MF | ESP | Denis Suárez | 48 | 5 | 25+8 | 4 | 0+2 | 0 | 11+2 | 1 |
| 19 | MF | ESP | Samu Castillejo | 45 | 2 | 19+9 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 8+5 | 1 |
| 21 | MF | ESP | Bruno | 45 | 7 | 28+3 | 5 | 0+2 | 0 | 12 | 2 |
| 26 | MF | ESP | Matías Nahuel | 30 | 1 | 11+9 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 2+4 | 0 |
| 28 | MF | ESP | Alfonso Pedraza | 3 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 |
| 29 | MF | ESP | Rodri | 6 | 0 | 1+2 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Forwards ||||||||||||
| 9 | FW | ESP | Roberto Soldado | 44 | 8 | 27+1 | 5 | 0+3 | 1 | 12+1 | 2 |
| 10 | FW | BRA | Léo Baptistão | 34 | 6 | 12+14 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 3+3 | 2 |
| 17 | FW | COD | Cédric Bakambu | 50 | 22 | 21+13 | 12 | 2+1 | 1 | 11+2 | 9 |
| 20 | FW | ESP | Adrián | 23 | 5 | 10+6 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1+6 | 1 |
| Players who have made an appearance or had a squad number this season but have left the club ||||||||||||
| 3 | DF | SVN | Bojan Jokić | 7 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 0 |