La Liga: Villarreal and Thomas Partey kick off the season against Real Oviedo | OneFootball

La Liga: Villarreal and Thomas Partey kick off the season against Real Oviedo

This Friday night, Villarreal and their new signing Thomas Partey kick off the 2025/26 La Liga season against Real Oviedo, freshly promoted after more than 20 years away from the top flight.

The "Yellow Submarine" comes into the opener after a mixed pre-season (4 draws, 1 win, 3 losses) but have strengthened their squad with Santiago Mouriño, Rafa Marín, Thomas Partey, Tajon Buchanan, and Alberto Moleiro. The management is still hoping for two or three more signings to cope with a packed fixture list.

On the other side, Veljiko Paunovic's Asturian squad is well-organized and defensively solid, expected to sit deep and look to spring a surprise on the counter. During pre-season, they conceded only three goals and scored as many (1 win, 4 draws, 1 loss), proving to be a tough unit to break down.

Villarreal will have to cope with several major absences for this season opener: Logan Costa (long-term injury), Willy Kambwala (hamstring), and Ayoze Pérez (muscle problem). And Marcelino, who already faced Oviedo in a friendly this summer (0-0), knows exactly what to expect. Thomas Partey and his teammates are sure to dominate possession, but they will have to be clinical if they want to start the campaign with a victory in front of their home fans.