Villarreal B will face UD Melilla in playoffs

Villarreal B will play UD Melilla in the first round of the promotion playoffs. The first leg will be at the Miralcamp in Vila-real (I don’t know the time yet), the second leg will be in the autonomous city of Melilla, on the northern African coast. (It and Ceuta are two port cities that were conquered by the Spanish in the late 1400’s and have been Spanish ever since).

I know little about UD Melilla except that they have been in the Segunda B since 1987; this is the fifth time they have qualified for the playoffs. They are managed by Luis Carrión, who managed Cordoba for a bit.

Melilla were 21-9-8 in their group, 55 goals scored, 33 given up. They did lose their last two matches, but before that they had a run of 9 games without loss. Villarreal B were 17-11-10, 54 goals scored, 39 given up.

I doubt Samu Chukwueze would play even if he were eligible (surely there is some limit to how many first-team matches you can play and still be considered a subsidiary player?) but I would think Quintillá and Morlanes would be eligible.

More news of exactly when the match is when we get it—Villarreal TV will probably show it live.

The full draw for the first round of the playoffs is:

Racing Santander—Atlético Baleares

Fuenlebrada—Recretivo Huelva

The winners of these two are promoted to the Segunda, the losers go into the next round of the playoffs along with the six winners of these matches:

Barakaldo-Herculés

Badajoz-Logroñés

Real Madrid Castilla—Cartegena

UE Cornellá—Ponferradina

Villarreal B—Melilla

Atletico Madrid B—Mirandés

Also worth pointing out here that Teruel, who lost 2-0 to Cornellá in their last match, have filed a protest claiming that the Catalan side used an ineligible player. If that were to be upheld, Espanyol B would I think replace Cornellá in the playoffs. Also, the playoffs to stay in the Segunda B would be affected; Celta B is supposed to play Alcoyano but Teruel would become one of four teams on 44 points (I don’t know which of them would have to play Celta B, in that case) and Alcoyano would automatically be relegated.