UD Lanzarote will face the last days of December with resignation, waiting to confirm the departure of the non-Lanzarote players who currently form the backbone of the "rojilla" squad. The directors acknowledge that they do not have the capacity to ensure the permanence of any of them since they do not have room to maneuver: "Where there is nothing, we cannot take out, and I cannot assure," says the president Victoriano Elvira, "a special effort to tie the continuity of some of these foreign players who are important in the team."
Not even the goalkeeper Reguero and the midfielder Raúl García will be spared from this disbandment caused by the defaults. Niche, Dani Paláez, Vicki, and Yeray Hernández are the men who have also confirmed their departure from the entity once the match against the Majoreros ends this Saturday.
On December 15, the period established by the Spanish Football Federation to process complaints of possible defaults incurred by clubs before the Spanish Footballers Association (AFE) opened. In the event of a player's complaint, the Unión Deportiva could not sign until the account is settled. This weekend, therefore, opens a period of two weeks to grant the letters of freedom and work on the signing of new players who finish the season with UD Lanzarote.
Derby at 11:30 AM on Saturday
UD Lanzarote has been undefeated for three weeks, having achieved victories in their last two away games. The Ciudad Deportiva continues to be the pending issue for the "rojillos", who tied their last league match here, the first for coach Carmelo Hernández at the head of the local bench. The latest lineups exhibited by the team speak of few changes, although this Saturday Raúl García - expelled against RM Castilla - will be out due to suspension in the call-up. The absences due to injury of Eliot and the departure of Dani Mayo complicate the task of the coach to find a reliable central defender in this opportunity. Jhota and Vladimir seem fixed in the center, while Jonathan Torres could repeat alongside Óscar Martín at the tip of the "rojillo" attack.
Adrián Suárez Betancort is the referee from the Las Palmas Committee in charge of whistling this match. It will be the third match of group II that he referees this season, in which he has added six matchdays imparting justice. Of the two confrontations starred in the Ciudad Deportiva by UD Lanzarote and UD Fuerteventura in Segunda B, the "rojillos" won in the 2004-2005 season by 4-0, while in the first matchday of last season the Majorera squad - in which the Lanzarote natives Gustavo García and Maciot were enrolled at the time - won 0-1.
This eighteenth league matchday again brings unequal confrontations between the Canary teams that are going through difficulties in the classification and teams that occupy enviable positions in the standings. Leganés and Atlético Ciudad Lorquí, two combined teams that currently aspire to promotion, will be the rivals of UD Las Palmas Atco. and Villa de Santa Brígida, respectively. More balanced is presented a priori the match between Universidad ULPGC and Atlético de Madrid B, two teams that for weeks have been flirting with the low positions of the table. Finally, UD Vecindario, which had been undefeated for eight weeks until the previous matchday, receives Águilas in Santa Lucía.
UD Fuerteventura, a team with problems
This Saturday, two combined teams that are going through countless economic problems, located in the abyss of economic bankruptcy and with many tickets to suffer a disbandment of players during this winter market, coincide on the grass of the Ciudad Deportiva. UD Fuerteventura, which this week has launched a desperate call for the support of the institutions not to disappear, owes three months of salary to its players. These days the Majorera directors are reminding the city councils and the Island Council, and also the businessmen, of their commitments to finance the team: "We do not want the institutions to take charge of the debt, for that there are the directors who must make the necessary arrangements to pay for it; what we do want is that they help the team not to disappear at a time when there is no type of income," Cristóbal Calero, director of Fuerteventura, pointed out this week to "Canarias 7". And despite all the problems, the Majoreros can boast of being the best team of the Canaries in group II of Segunda B, now located five points from the promotion positions.
