UPDATE: Villarreal has drawn Belgian side Club Brugge K.V. (watch out for Croatian midfielder Ivan Perisic), Croatian champions NK Dinamo Zagreb, and Greek runners-up PAOK F.C. (who eliminated Fenerbahce) in Group D of the Europa League (h/t to capercat). I'm most concerned about PAOK from Thessaloniki, who have quality and experience in Pablo Garcia, Muslimovic, and Salpigidis, not to mention the rabid Greek home support. But we should aim to win the group and go through comfortably.
The B team gets underway today in Valladolid. As manager Javi Gracia says, the Segunda A is a very tight league, so the details make the difference.
Here is the squad for this season's curtain-raiser:
GKs: Vicente Flor and Diego Mariño.
Ds: Mano, Héctor, Carlos Tomás, Dorian Dervite, Jaume Costa, Ángel Ortega and Diego Jiménez.
MFs: Marcos Gullón, Natxo Insa, Nico, Hernán Pérez, Facundo Coria and Torres.
Fs: Airam, Iago Falqué and Joselu.
Missing out are Kiko and Mario, who started yesterday's Europa League match in Belarus. I wouldn't expect them to play much for Javi Gracia. Injured are striker Gerard Bordas, Brazilian midfielder Tiago Dutra, and defender Joan Truyols. Endavant!
In call-up news, Santi Cazorla is the only non-World Cup winner selected by Vicente del Bosque for Spain's Euro 2012 qualifier in Liechtenstein and friendly in Argentina. Well deserved. That also means Joan Capdevila and Carlos Marchena continue with La Furia Roja. But no Bruno Soriano, though he'll get more chances.
Another year, another B teamer with his South American selection. Now it's Hernán Pérez, traveling to Japan and China with the Paraguayan national team. Congrats.