Villarreal beat Manchester United after 22 penalties

Villarreal CF won the Europa League title after beating Manchester United in the final in Gdansk thanks to their great success in the penalty shootout, without a miss after taking all eleven kicks.

Villarreal, through tenacity and hard work, withstood the onslaught of a strong Manchester United side.

The English team was superior throughout the match, but did not manage to create many goal scoring chances thanks to the defensive work of the whole team. Villarreal were very solid in their efforts.

The Spanish team held out heroically until the penalty shoot-out. It took 22 penalties to determine a winner.

It was an injustice to the goalkeepers. All the limelight goes to the goalkeepers in a penalty shoot-out, but in this unique case, they also had to take penalties.

Twenty penalties were superbly taken. De Gea, goalkeeper of the red devils, did not have the chance to save any of them and Rulli, goalkeeper of Castellon, almost did it when he touched the ball in several kicks.

Then it was the time for the goalkeepers to take their turn as penalty takers. First Rulli took his penalty, hitting the ball hard. With his instep, to one side, like a real penalty taker.

Next it was his turn to stop the ball and the Argentinian saved the final one, the one taken by his counterpart. It wasn't badly taken, but Rulli guessed which side De Gea was going to use and saved it. The yellow team players had a great deal of poise. There was no question in their minds of getting nervous. After all the effort they could not stay on the sidelines. What's more, during extra time they outplayed Manchester at times. As time went on, they became more consistent.

Because of a penalty they missed out on a Champions League final a few years ago. This would weigh on the minds of the fans and especially the president, but the players were as consistent in their penalty taking as they were in defence throughout the game.

The reward came in the end: they were champions. A team from a town of 50,000 inhabitants battling against one of the strongest and most storied teams in the world.

Football brings such stories. It is not always the best team that wins. Instead, it is sometimes the hardest working and most accurate team that wins. United were good, there is nothing to criticise them for. Congratulations to Villarreal CF.