Villarreal B to play UD Logroñes

Villarreal take on UD Logroñes in the first round of the promotion playoffs.  This club was formed in 2009 as a successor to CD Logroñes, a club that had a decent run in the Primera many years ago but eventually fell victim to poor results on the pitch and financial mismanagement off it.

UD bought its way into the Segunda B and has competed there since its foundation; they finished fourth in their group last year as well but did not advance, losing to Huracán Valencia in the first playoff round.

Their big danger man is Pere Milla, who came up in Getafe's system.  The 23 year-old scored 18 goals--the club had only 50.  Their defense was good, 28 goals given up, but they sort of coasted the last month or so of the season and didn't post a win in their last five matches, ending up with 66 points.  They did make it to the round of 32 of the Copa del Rey, where Sevilla defeated them 2-0 at Logroño and 3-0 in the Sanchez Pizjuán.

Villarreal B will enter this matchup as favorites, certainly, but the key will be to make our overall skill level and talent overcome Logroño's advantage in experience.  And coach Carlos Pouso was manager of Mirandés in 2012, and we all remember what happened in the Copa that year.  The last coach to shake hands with Juan Carlos Garrido as coach of Villarreal...

As for the city and the stadium, Logroño is the administrative center of La Rioja, and Rioja means wine...so no suprises for guessing what the town's economy is built on!!  Their ground seats 16,000...clearly built with a return to higher divisions in mind.  I would expect therefore there would be opportunities for Villarreal supporters to travel en masse to the away leg, which will take place next weekend (it's about a five-hour car or bus ride).  The return leg will take place the weekend of May 28-29.