Cazorla spurred by taste of success

Perhaps Santi Cazorla has moments when he believes he must be dreaming. Proud owner of a winner's medal from UEFA EURO 2008™, key member of a Spain side which is currently unbeaten for 27 matches and top of Spain's Liga with his club Villarreal CF - life is particularly sweet for the 23-year-old midfielder.

Dream run
If Matchday 3 falls into the recent pattern of Cazorla's life then he will probably score against Aalborg BK in a neat echo of his first European goal, also against Danish opposition, when Villarreal beat Odense BK in the UEFA Intertoto Cup four years ago. That is how things are going for the man from Asturias. With Sergio Garciá, Cazorla was last to be selected for Luis Aragonés's squad prior to EURO, but he racked up five appearances and 192 minutes – sufficient for a big money offer from Real Madrid CF to arrive just before the close of the summer transfer market. Every young Spanish footballer's dream? Cazorla said no.

Madrid spurned
"When the offer from Real Madrid came in they called me and said it was up to me what I chose to do, which is a great position for any footballer to be in," he told uefa.com. "However the truth is it didn't take me much thinking to decide because I'm extremely happy here at Villarreal. If you are a successful footballer teams like Madrid will be interested, which is not unimportant, but there are other points to take into account. I owe everything to Villarreal because they were the team that gave me the opportunity to play in the top division, to grow as a footballer and they demonstrate every day how important I am to this club."

'Good memories'
Neither Cazorla nor Villarreal have won a domestic trophy, but their mutual rise and rise indicates they are attractive outsiders for both the Champions League and domestic honours. Despite the continuing mini-miracle of a club from a community with only around 50,000 inhabitants competing at the top level of European football, Villarreal have never stopped augmenting their squad intelligently and Cazorla thinks they may now be equipped to distinguish themselves on two fronts. "I think the Champions League is everyone's favourite competition because no matter how tough it is playing against Europe's best sides it is tremendously exciting for any footballer and we all have such good memories of our debut season in the competition," he explained.

High ambitions
"I've not had enough experience in it to satisfy me yet but I was at least a part of our last campaign when we nearly reached the final despite it being our first season in the competition. Nobody had a bet on us doing that on our debut but I can tell you it was a beautiful, special moment. All the Villarreal fans were out in the streets before, during and after those matches – it was great for our community. I was really disappointed not to get to the final in Paris. The Champions League teaches you to improve and to learn quickly because of the quality of the opposition – we are going to make the most of it this season. As far as the Spanish championship is concerned we are in it to win it this year. OK, that will be very difficult but I think we have the squad to fight for both titles. We have started with confidence and by getting positive results in each competition. It is certainly the dream of everybody at the club, players and supporters, to win a trophy as soon as possible. This could be our year."

To watch this interview in the latest edition of the uefa.com Magazine, click here.