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Before anything else, highlights of the Villarreal-Las Palmas match:
Las Palmas’s coach Quique Setien has been reported by the referees’ committee for his comments after the match; he took issue with the penalty award to Villarreal and said he felt the ref was unduly influenced by the home crowd. Relatively mild stuff, but still.
Villarreal B defeated L’Hospitalet 1-0. This was a wild match where as usual we dominated play but couldn’t finish off opportunities and dithered too long to take chances, while the opposition made the most of their limited chances—in this case hitting a post....A goal in the 80th minute gave Villarreal the win, though we had to hold on late.
Villarreal C continues to do well, with a 4-0 home win over bottom side Segorbe. They are on 26 points (7 wins and 5 draws in their 12 matches). Of course they can’t be promoted unless Villarreal B are; the B team needs to get Leo Suarez back from injury, for sure, but the key has got to be not conceding so many late goals. If not for that the B-boys would be in the playoff spots already.
Mateo Musacchio has been called up for Argentina’s next two World Cup qualifiers; November 10 vs Brazil, November 15 against Colombia. The albiceleste are currently fifth in the CONMEBOL group, one point behind Colombia and five adrift of leaders Brazil after 10 matches.
Peru, Bolivia and Venezuela are clearly not going anywhere but the other seven countries are fighting for four automatic spots and one play-in opportunity.
And you have probably already read this, but ex-Villarreal man Eric Bailly sufffered a knee injury while playing for Manchester United against Chelsea—he has said he hopes to return in a couple of months.