‘Bruno is from the humblest town’

Villarreal President Fernando Roig has lavished praise on Bruno Soriano’s contribution to the Yellow Submarine.

Roig spoke to AS about the club and picked out Bruno, who has broken into the Spain team on the back of his performances under Marcelino.

“He’s grown from the humblest of humble origins, a village in Castellon called Artana, to be the leader when we returned to the Primera from the Segunda,” he recalled.

“He helped us a lot to get back up. Today he’s the leader and under contract for a long time.

“I don’t know if I should assess the national team but I appreciate him. He’s a great player.

“Whenever the Spain team have done anything it’s when there have been Villarreal players, starting with Marcos Senna. Senna stopped playing against France and we lost…”

Roig also discussed Mario Gaspar, another Villarreal player to be catching attention for his solid displays.

“He’s come from Albacete. We signed a lot of players and Mario is the one who has reached the final stage,” he said of the right-back.

“It shows how difficult football is. He’s achieved and he’s an important player.”

Roig moved on to discuss the youth system and his ambitions for the team, insisting they didn’t have to be limited because of the club’s smaller budget.

“We work hard on the grass roots. It’s great satisfaction that Rodri played against Athletic Bilbao in the Copa del Rey and we’re top of Segunda B playing good football,” he said.

“People said when I came here in 1997 that I was crazy for saying the team would play in the Primera. It’s very difficult as we have Real Madrid, Barcelona and Atletico Madrid, but we don’t rule out anything.”

Tags Bruno Soriano Fernando Roig Spain
La Liga - Club News