Villarreal news, May 21: Shorthanded for Bilbao, Australian tour, more

Villarreal will be quite shorthanded as they play in Bilbao this Sunday.  Uche, Cheryshev, Pina, Asenjo, Musacchio and Marin are all out, and suspensions loom for Vietto, Gio and Rukavina. Therefore, we may see Joel Campbell as a second striker with Gerard Moreno again.

Jonathan dos Santos did not train today but is expected to be ready.  EPM reports Marcelino has invited a number of B teamers to train with the first team this week--these include Leo Suarez, Fran Sol, Aleix Garcia, Tano and Pablo Gonzalez, as well as Sergio Marcos.

Other quick news: EPM reports Cheryshev wants to remain in Villarreal another season.  Exactly how much 'pressure' he can or will put on Madrid to do that isn't clear, and of course Madrid at the moment is totally focused on whether a coaching change is happening, etc.  I can tell you though Chery has been quite active on twitter supporting Villarreal during his injury, which is good to see, and the fans appreciate it.

Australian tour is getting closer, and our hosts are getting excited.  Adelaide United host Villarreal May 29 and they have a Spanish player, Pablo Sanchez, who played for Lugo last season and so faced Gerard Moreno.  (He was in the Segunda B when we were in the second tier, so didn't face anyone else).   He has some nice things to say.

Brisbane Roar host Villarreal on June 3, and their official site has a nice look ahead to the match also.

Both dos Santos brothers have been called up by Mexico for some friendlies and the Gold Cup, which means they should  miss our Emirates Cup clashes in the UK.  The Gold Cup is a big deal for Mexico, since if they win it they get to play in the Confederations Cup, so they're picking a strong team for that one.

And finally, on a non-Villarreal note, sad to see Xavi is leaving Barcelona, even sadder to see he is going to Qatar and in addition to starting to get his coaching badges, will be 'an ambassador for the 2022 World Cup'.  What a world we live in, eh?