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Spain: Riquelme in injury doubt for Villarreal [Tue Sep 13th, 2005]
Villarreal are facing an anxious wait to see if star midfielder Juan Roman Riquelme can recover from an ankle injury in time for Thursday morning's UEFA Champions League clash against Manchester United.
Riquelme limped out of the 1-1 draw at home to Sevilla on Sunday and was replaced by Hector Font.
It will be a huge blow for Villarreal should Riquelme miss out against the Red Devils because in addition to scoring 15 goals last season, he provided much of the service for Diego Forlan and helped him rediscover his scoring touch.
Forlan scored 25 times last campaign.
Villarreal coach Manuel Pellegrini said: "We are going to see how Roman recovers, because he is very important to us."
Pellegrini is learning very quickly that equalling last season's third place finish will be very difficult.
They began the new campaign with a defeat to Osasuna.
Only a late Luciano Figueroa equaliser saved a point against Sevilla.
"I don't think that my players were thinking about the UEFA Champions League, because they know that the Primera Liga is our priority," Pellegrini said. "We played a bad game and we will solve it with effort and sacrifice."
PA Sport
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