Liverpool vs Villarreal - Europa League: Devastating Denis Suarez aims to make history for little men

Midfielder released by City and Barcelona tells The Independent how much it would mean to Spain's smallest town if their club could beat Liverpool in the Europa League semi-final

Villarreal midfielder Denis Suarez will probably return to Barcelona in the summer (Getty)

Can football take any more fairytales this season? Leicester’s amazing title; Fernando Torres' return to a Champions League final...And what if the smallest town with a team playing European football this season booked a place in the Europa League final too?

And what if 22-year-old Denis Suarez, who couldn’t breakthrough at Manchester City or Barcelona, was to play a huge role in helping Spain's Villarreal do it?

“When we drew Liverpool, we knew we had a club with a huge history," Suarez tells The Independent this week at Villarreal's training ground. "So, imagine what it feels like to beat such a big, historic club like that in the Europa League semi-final, in the last minute,” he says justifying that euphoric celebration at the end of the game last Thursday night that some completely misread as arrogance.

“We know there’s still a return leg this Thursday but for us the 1-0 is a very important lead," Suarez adds. "Liverpool are one of the strongest teams in the tournament. They had just knocked out Borussia Dortmund who were the favourites. Imagine having the chance to, not just reach a European final, but to do it at Anfield.”

The midfielder says winning the tournament will be the biggest achievement in Villarreal’s history. It will also be his biggest triumph to date and you imagine it will be the first of many. After we speak, Suarez is mobbed by a throng of a hundred or so young fans outside the training ground’s main pitch. This lad's star is in the ascendancy and for good reason. He played the pass for that 92nd-minute goal last week. There is pressure on Vicente del Bosque to give him a call up ahead of this summer's European Championship. Barcelona are expected to buy him for the second time in the summer. If he had stayed at Manchester City he would surely be a fixture in their team by now. "Yes maybe," is as far as he will go.

Suarez scored with his first touch in a City shirt in 2011, converting a penalty in a shoot-out against LA Galaxy to decide a pre-season friendly on the club’s US tour having come on in the 88th minute. It was the match best remembered for Mario Balotelli trying to score with an elaborate back-heeled flick when a simple tap-in would have sufficed, and being hooked by a furious Roberto Mancini. “He had heard a whistle in the crowd,” says Suarez. “Mancini thought he was messing about but they sorted it out in the dressing room.”

Suarez was only 17 when he turned up at City but he was already more mature than Balotelli. ”It was as if he was a kid. If he had been focused he’d have been a brilliant player,” says Suarez. “I saw him do things in training that were incredible. There was no malice to him, nothing bad in him at all; he just took everything as a joke.”

So City are presumably still his team then? “Yes,” he says. “And this year Leicester too. In Spain it’s almost impossible for this to happen. It’s like Villarreal or Celta Vigo or Athletic Bilbao winning the league. In England the money is distributed more evenly and there are the resources for teams to build.” He even believes the Foxes might thrive in Europe next season. “They are strong tactically, more European than English in that sense,” he says. “In the Premier League games are usually very end-to-end but with Leicester, that doesn’t happen. It is hard to generate chances against them.”

Imagine what it feels like to beat such a big, historic club like Liverpool in the Europa League semi-final, in the last minute

&#13; <p>Denis Suarez</p>&#13;

Celta Vigo was Suarez’s first club. He stood out as a youngster and turned down Real Madrid aged just 14. At 17, Barcelona wanted him so how and why did he end up at City? “They gave me the chance to take my family with me,” he says. “Celta needed to sell players because they were in administration and City paid them a good price but the contract I was offered set my parents up for life so I didn’t think twice."

His hairdresser mum and car mechanic dad accompanied him to Lancashire with his sister, who subsequently settled there with a Mancunian boyfriend who supports City and will be Anfield tonight backing Villarreal. “I enjoyed England," Suarez adds. "I don’t know if I will go back one day but it was the right decision [to go there]; I don’t regret it,” he says.

What his parents never got to see was their son break into City’s first team. He might have managed that in his third year but despite Manuel Pellegrini wanting him to stay he was sold to Barcelona. “Pellegrini told me to stay but I knew that it would be difficult to get games,” he says pausing in search of the right words. “I see Arsenal putting young players in to the team or even United now with [Marcus] Rashford. It’s giving players four or five games to see how they respond. At City that doesn’t happen. [Kelechi] Iheanacho is playing now but generally, although they spend a lot of money on young players, they don’t take that next step.

“To find out if someone is good enough, you have to try them. City are in a moment in which they have a lot of players who are all at a very high level so it is not easy. They invest a lot of money in young players and they give them everything they can to succeed; they help them in every way. But at the hour of truth, it’s hard for them to go beyond that.”

Will it change when Pep Guardiola arrives? “Maybe, because the philosophy he has is that if he sees a young player who is good enough, he backs him,” Suarez says. It's no longer his problem now. Barcelona sent him on loan to Sevilla first and then sold him to Villarreal last summer because they were banned from registering players - but Luis Enrique's club were careful to put in a very accessible buy-back clause that they will exercise this summer.

Pellegrini told me to stay but I knew it would be difficult to get games. I see Arsenal playing youngsters or even United now... At City that doesn’t happen

&#13; <p>Denis Suarez</p>&#13;

In the midst of that exuberant celebration at the end of the first leg that tested the sensibilities of some Liverpool supporters Suarez left El Madrigal without having swapped his shirt. Tonight he will seek out James Milner who he lived near in Manchester, who he says speaks some Spanish, who replaced Balotelli in that LA Galaxy friendly, and about whom he only has good things to say. “I don’t know if people rate him that highly in England but I saw him every day for two years and he ran more than anyone else, trained better than anyone else. I’d always want him in my team.”

Milner will be out to stop Suarez tonight as will another old Manchester City team-mate, Kolo Toure, and his Spain Under-21 pal Alberto Moreno. They might all need to play the game of their lives to stop Villarreal making history.

“Maybe people don’t realise how big this is for us,” he says, remembering the post-match celebration once more. “It’s hugely important because it would be our first final. The game against Liverpool was our way of showing the rest of the world, and the people in England, what we are.” Tonight will be another opportunity to leave a lasting impression.