News round-up 04.10.19
There’s only one place to start and that’s with the news that Villarreal are sending four players to the next Spain squad. Robert Moreno has called up Pau Torres, Gerard Moreno, Raúl Albiol and Santi Cazorla for the games against Norway and Sweden. No club has more players in the squad than Villarreal — with Real Madrid, Real Sociedad, Sevilla and Paris Saint-Germain next on the list with just two players each. Three of the four Villarreal players came through the academy here in Vila-real (Pau, Gerard and Cazorla), and it is the first international call-up for Pau and Gerard. You can read about their international schedule here. You can see how their team-mates celebrated with them in training here too.
It puts the cherry on top of a remarkable few days for Pau. On Wednesday, the Vila-real native signed a new contract with the club, on Thursday he appeared in front of the press to speak about his joy at representing his hometown club (read what he had to say here) and on Friday he became the first person from Vila-real to ever be called up for the Spain senior squad. For someone who joined the academy aged just five to be having so much success really makes the hard work that the club pour into the academy worth while.
But of course, before the international break, there’s a match to play, and the men’s first team are away to Osasuna on Saturday (kick-off 9pm Spanish time). Javi Calleja has unveiled his matchday squad and you can find that here.
Of course, the men’s first team aren’t the only side in action. This weekend’s game on Villarreal CF Live is Villarreal U23s (Villarreal B) vs Ebro. The Mini Submarine are joint league leaders and will be hoping to keep up their good start to the season. Details of how to watch Sunday’s game are here. The full schedule for all teams here in Spain can be found here.
And the call-up to the men’s senior squad isn’t the only good international news we’ve had this week, with Villarreal Women’s Aixa Salvador scoring a hat-trick for Spain U19s in the week. Read more here.
We’ve also published a few new pieces on our ‘Off The Pitch’ Medium page, including a feature on new Villarreal Women signing and hot prospect, in not just football but athletics too, Salma Paralluelo and a look from Villarreal U23s (Villarreal B) American hotshot Mukwelle Akale at his team-mates.
