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El Madrigal is going to be full for the visit of Real Madrid on Saturday, with 2000 tickets sold in the last day or two. Our season ticket campaign is somewhere between 19,000 and the 20,000 goal, and presumably almost all of those seats will be filled.
Real Madrid has a significant injury list at the moment, with Isco in doubt, Marcelo out, and Ronaldo and Modric nursing some dings but expected to play.
And if you need to get excited about the game (if you are not already), take a look at this video. Really well done.
Of course, there are a number of World Cup qualifiers today involving Madrid and Villarreal players, with our main focus being on the USA-Mexico match this evening in which Gio and Aquino should appear.
Villarreal C hosts Castellón on Sunday, and their captain, Trilles, who has made some very anti-Villarreal comments in the past, will miss the match with an injury. Villarreal (always attempting to support other local institutions, even of they don't always like us) has given a number of free tickets (I think around 600) to CD Castellón to give to their supporters.
Sr. Roig was interviewed yesterday on Radio Nou (La Taula Esportiva program) and had some interesting comments. He reiterated that the club will not need to sell players, that income and expenses are 'in balance' and we can pay our obligations (including to the taxman) promptly. interestingly, he did say that Tata Martino (now at Barca) was a name that had come up at some point as a possible coach at Villarreal, before Marcelino was hired. And also, he said his son was the one who fought to hire Marcelino in January--he and Sr. Llaneza had another candidate in mind (no evidence to indicate it was Martino, and Sr. Roig didn't say who it was) but Sr. Roig Negueroles was the one who persuaded them to contact Marcelino and offer him the job.
There was some discussion about El Madrigal and 'sponsorship' (naming rights?) which I didn't catch, but maybe someone can fill us in on that. Sr. Roig did say there are plans to extend a cover over one of the stands, and also work on the corners of the ground.
And a question has come up today--has the pitch been lengthened from last year? The question came up on the submarino amarillo forum. Does anyone know?