Marcelino, Villarreal’s Head Coach, yesterday named the 19 players who will be travelling to Australia to take part in the LFP World Challenge.
The full squad will arrive in Adelaide on Thursday morning, with their training session to be held that evening. This match will be the first time Villarreal has ever travelled and played against an Australian side. Following the match against the Reds on Friday night, they will travel to Brisbane to take on the Roar.
Eugene Galekovic, who sees this match as the perfect way to keep fit for the upcoming Socceroos World Cup qualifier, spoke of the significance of this game.
“For the players who play in the Hyundai A-League to play against a La Liga team is massive. You don’t get many types of games like these in your career,” said Galekovic.
“I think any player that goes out on the field is going to give it everything they’ve got and in years to come they will look back and say this is probably one of their career highlights.”
Villarreal will be hitting the shores of Australia for the first time in its 92-year history. It will also be the first time a La Liga side will play at Coopers Stadium.
Villarreal CF Squad: 1.Sanchez Martinez (GK), 2.Mario, 4.T.Pina, 6.J.Dos Santos, 7.Vietto, 9.Giovani, 14.M.Trigueros, 15.Victor Ruiz, 16.M.N.Dorado, 17.Cheryshev, 18.J.Costa, 19.Moi Gomez, 21.Bruno, 22.Rukavina, 23.Gerard, 25.J.C Sanchez (GK), 26.Sergio Marcos, 27.Tano Bonnin, 31.Aitor Fdez (GK)
