Villarreal invited to take part in the Trofeo Carranza

As you may recall, Villarreal defeated the other "Yellow Submarine", Cadiz, in the Copa del Rey this season.  Perhaps as a result, Villarreal has been invited to take part in Cadiz's preseason tournament, the Trofeo Ramon de Carranza.  Now there are a lot of preseason trophies played for in Spain--Villarreal hosts one of their own, the Ceramica Trophy--but the Carranza trophy is known as the "trophy of trophies."

It's a four-team tournament happening in August, usually with four Spanish teams but sometimes another European club instead (Sampdoria participated last year).  Cadiz always participate as hosts, of course.  Last year Atletico Madrid won the trophy; Villarreal haven't played in it since the 54th version, in 2008.

And yet, the reaction on twitter among Villarreal supporters was at best a groan, at worst a "Nooooooooooo!"  Why?  Well, both times we played in it--2006 and 2008--one of our players got injured.  If memory serves, it was Robert Pires one time, Gonzalo Rodriguez the other.  And given all the injuries we suffered last season, it might be tempting fate to play here a third time.

Whether or not the Villarreal front office shares that view, I don't know, but the club has evidently not accepted the invitation yet--word is we are "still planning our preseason".