# 2017–18 Villarreal CF season

The 2017–18 season was Villarreal Club de Fútbol's 95th season in existence and the club's 5th 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 2017 to 30 June 2018.

## Squad

    As of 28 February 2018
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 Gaspar (vice-captain) |
| 3 | DF | ESP | Álvaro |
| 4 | DF | POR | Rúben Semedo |
| 5 | DF | ESP | Adrián Marín |
| 6 | DF | ESP | Víctor Ruiz |
| 7 | MF | RUS | Denis Cheryshev |
| 8 | MF | ESP | Pablo Fornals |
| 9 | FW | COL | Carlos Bacca (on loan from Milan) |
| 10 | MF | ESP | Samu Castillejo |
| 11 | DF | ESP | Jaume Costa |
| 13 | GK | ESP | Andrés Fernández |
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 14 | MF | ESP | Manu Trigueros |
| 15 | FW | TUR | Enes Ünal |
| 16 | MF | ESP | Rodri |
| 18 | FW | ITA | Nicola Sansone |
| 20 | MF | ITA | Roberto Soriano |
| 21 | MF | ESP | Bruno (captain) |
| 22 | DF | SRB | Antonio Rukavina |
| 23 | DF | ITA | Daniele Bonera |
| 24 | MF | SEN | Alfred N'Diaye |
| 25 | GK | ARG | Mariano Barbosa |
| 35 | MF | ARG | Leo Suárez |

### Transfers

* List of Spanish football transfers summer 2017 § Villarreal

#### In

| Date | Player | From | Type | Fee |
| 31 May 2017 | Enes Ünal | Manchester City | Transfer | €8,500,000 |
| 7 June 2017 | Rúben Semedo | Sporting CP | Transfer | €14,000,000 |
| 21 June 2017 | Andrés Fernández | Porto | Transfer | €1,700,000 |
| 30 June 2017 | Akram Afif | Sporting Gijón | Loan return | Free |
| 30 June 2017 | Alfonso Pedraza | Leeds United | Loan return | Free |
| 30 June 2017 | Pablo Íñiguez | Rayo Vallecano | Loan return | Free |
| 30 June 2017 | Cristian Espinoza | Real Valladolid | Loan return | Free |
| 30 June 2017 | Adrián Marín | Leganés | Loan return | Free |
| 30 June 2017 | Alfred N'Diaye | Hull City | Loan return | Free |
| 24 July 2017 | Pablo Fornals | Málaga | Transfer | €12,000,000 |
| 16 August 2017 | Carlos Bacca | Milan | Loan | €2,500,000 |

#### Out

| Date | Player | To | Type | Fee |
| 30 May 2017 | Mateo Musacchio | Milan | Transfer | €18,000,000 |
| 30 June 2017 | Adrián | Porto | Loan return | Free |
| 30 June 2017 | José Ángel | Porto | Loan return | Free |
| 30 June 2017 | Rafael Santos Borré | Atlético Madrid | Loan return | Free |
| 5 July 2017 | Alfonso Pedraza | Alavés | Loan | Free |
| 12 July 2017 | Pablo Íñiguez | Reus | Transfer | Free |
| 14 July 2017 | Akram Afif | Eupen | Loan | Free |
| 18 July 2017 | Cristian Espinoza | Boca Juniors | Loan | Free |
| 28 July 2017 | Jonathan dos Santos | LA Galaxy | Transfer | €4,300,000 |
| 9 August 2017 | Roberto Soldado | Fenerbahçe | Transfer | €5,000,000 |
| 28 February 2018 | Cédric Bakambu | Beijing Guoan | Transfer | €37,000,000 |

## 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 | 21 August 2017 | 20 May 2018 | Matchday 1 | 5th | 38 | 18 | 7 | 13 | 57 | 50 | +7 | 047.37 |
| Copa del Rey | 25 October 2017 | 10 January 2018 | Round of 32 | Round of 16 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 6 | 5 | +1 | 025.00 |
| UEFA Europa League | 14 September 2017 | 22 February 2018 | Group stage | Round of 32 | 8 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 11 | 10 | +1 | 037.50 |
| Total | Total | Total | Total | Total | 50 | 22 | 11 | 17 | 74 | 65 | +9 | 044.00 |
Source: Competitions

### La Liga
#### League table

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
| 3 | Real Madrid | 38 | 22 | 10 | 6 | 94 | 44 | +50 | 76 | Qualification for the Champions League group stage |
| 4 | Valencia | 38 | 22 | 7 | 9 | 65 | 38 | +27 | 73 | Qualification for the Champions League group stage |
| 5 | Villarreal | 38 | 18 | 7 | 13 | 57 | 50 | +7 | 61 | Qualification for the Europa League group stage |
| 6 | Real Betis | 38 | 18 | 6 | 14 | 60 | 61 | −1 | 60 | Qualification for the Europa League group stage |
| 7 | Sevilla | 38 | 17 | 7 | 14 | 49 | 58 | −9 | 58 | Qualification for the Europa League second qualifying round |
* 1 2 Since the winners of the 2017–18 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 second 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 | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | A | H | A | H | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | H | H | A | A | H |
| Result | L | L | W | W | D | L | W | W | W | D | W | D | L | L | L | W | W | D | W | W | W | L | L | D | W | L | L | W | W | L | L | D | W | W | W | L | W | D |
| Position | 18 | 19 | 13 | 7 | 9 | 14 | 9 | 8 | 6 | 6 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 5 | 5 |

#### Matches

Win  Draw  Loss  Fixtures

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

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Villarreal | 6 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 10 | 6 | +4 | 11 | Advance to knockout phase |
| 2 | Astana | 6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 10 | 7 | +3 | 10 | Advance to knockout phase |
| 3 | Slavia Prague | 6 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 6 | 6 | 0 | 8 | |
| 4 | Maccabi Tel Aviv | 6 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 8 | −7 | 4 | |

#### Knockout phase
##### Round of 32
## Statistics
### Appearances and goals

    Last updated on 20 May 2018.
| 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 | 26 | 0 | 23 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| 13 | GK | ESP | Andrés Fernández | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 25 | GK | ARG | Mariano Barbosa | 21 | 0 | 12+1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 6 | 0 |
| 31 | GK | ESP | Ander Cantero | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Defenders ||||||||||||
| 2 | DF | ESP | Mario Gaspar | 37 | 2 | 31+1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 |
| 3 | DF | ESP | Álvaro | 38 | 0 | 32+1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| 4 | DF | POR | Rúben Semedo | 5 | 0 | 3+1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 5 | DF | ESP | Adrián Marín | 10 | 0 | 4+1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| 6 | DF | ESP | Víctor Ruiz | 34 | 2 | 27 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 0 |
| 11 | DF | ESP | Jaume Costa | 36 | 0 | 29+1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 0 |
| 22 | DF | SRB | Antonio Rukavina | 24 | 0 | 14+3 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| 23 | DF | ITA | Daniele Bonera | 21 | 0 | 14+1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 0 |
| 30 | DF | ESP | Pau Torres | 6 | 0 | 0+2 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 38 | DF | ESP | Genís Montolio | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Midfielders ||||||||||||
| 7 | MF | RUS | Denis Cheryshev | 32 | 4 | 9+15 | 2 | 2+1 | 1 | 1+4 | 1 |
| 8 | MF | ESP | Pablo Fornals | 46 | 4 | 30+5 | 3 | 1+3 | 0 | 7 | 1 |
| 10 | MF | ESP | Samu Castillejo | 38 | 6 | 25+5 | 6 | 2+1 | 0 | 2+3 | 0 |
| 12 | MF | KSA | Salem Al-Dawsari | 1 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 14 | MF | ESP | Manu Trigueros | 44 | 4 | 32+2 | 3 | 2+1 | 0 | 7 | 1 |
| 16 | MF | ESP | Rodri | 47 | 1 | 36+1 | 1 | 2+2 | 0 | 5+1 | 0 |
| 19 | MF | ESP | Javi Fuego | 12 | 0 | 6+5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 20 | MF | ITA | Roberto Soriano | 30 | 0 | 11+11 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 4+2 | 0 |
| 21 | MF | ESP | Bruno | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 26 | MF | URU | Ramiro Guerra | 10 | 0 | 0+4 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 3+1 | 0 |
| 28 | MF | ESP | Raba | 29 | 4 | 14+7 | 2 | 3+1 | 1 | 1+3 | 1 |
| 33 | MF | ESP | Chuca | 7 | 0 | 1+3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1+1 | 0 |
| 35 | MF | ARG | Leo Suárez | 3 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 |
| 37 | MF | ESP | Pedrito | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 |
| 40 | MF | ESP | Manu Morlanes | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 51 | MF | ESP | Sergio Lozano | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 |
| Forwards ||||||||||||
| 9 | FW | COL | Carlos Bacca | 44 | 18 | 30+5 | 15 | 1+2 | 1 | 6 | 2 |
| 15 | FW | TUR | Enes Ünal | 31 | 5 | 11+12 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 3+2 | 0 |
| 18 | FW | ITA | Nicola Sansone | 22 | 6 | 5+13 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 2+1 | 1 |
| 24 | FW | COL | Roger Martínez | 9 | 1 | 2+6 | 1 | 0+1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 27 | FW | ESP | Mario González | 2 | 0 | 0+2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 34 | FW | ESP | Darío Poveda | 2 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Players who have made an appearance or had a squad number this season but have left the club ||||||||||||
| 17 | FW | COD | Cédric Bakambu | 21 | 14 | 15 | 9 | 1 | 2 | 2+3 | 3 |
| 24 | MF | SEN | Alfred N'Diaye | 2 | 0 | 1+1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |

### Cards

    Accounts for all competitions. Last updated on 19 December 2017.
| No. | Pos. | Name | | |
| 2 | DF | Mario Gaspar | 1 | 0 |
| 3 | DF | Álvaro | 6 | 0 |
| 5 | DF | Adrián Marín | 2 | 0 |
| 6 | DF | Víctor Ruiz | 5 | 0 |
| 8 | MF | Pablo Fornals | 2 | 0 |
| 9 | FW | Carlos Bacca | 3 | 0 |
| 11 | DF | Jaume Costa | 8 | 0 |
| 14 | MF | Manu Trigueros | 8 | 0 |
| 16 | MF | Rodri | 4 | 0 |
| 17 | FW | Cédric Bakambu | 6 | 0 |
| 18 | FW | Nicola Sansone | 1 | 0 |
| 20 | MF | Roberto Soriano | 4 | 0 |
| 22 | DF | Antonio Rukavina | 2 | 0 |
| 23 | DF | Daniele Bonera | 2 | 0 |
| 26 | MF | Ramiro Guerra | 1 | 0 |
| 28 | MF | Raba | 1 | 1 |
| 33 | MF | Víctor Moya | 1 | 0 |

### Clean sheets

    Last updated on 19 December 2017.
| Number | Nation | Name | Matches Played | La Liga | Copa del Rey | Europa League | Total |
| 1 | | Sergio Asenjo | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| 13 | | Andrés Fernández | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 25 | | Mariano Barbosa | 19 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 7 |
| 31 | | Ander Cantero | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| TOTALS | TOTALS | TOTALS | TOTALS | 6 | 1 | 2 | 9 |