‘I suffer a lot’: Villarreal owner Fernando Roig on not enjoying games and the prospect of Liverpool

‘It’s emotional to play Liverpool,’ says the Villarreal president, Fernando Roig (right), seen here with the club’s chief executive, his son, who is also called Fernando. Photograph: Villareal CF

The first time Fernando Roig watched Villarreal play as their president, he sat in the stand at a tiny whitewashed ground that had concrete fever and was half empty. It was a Sunday night in the second division, they lost 3-0 against Badajoz, and he didn’t enjoy it much.

But then, he never enjoys it much. Even on Tuesday at Anfield, he will not: into his 30th year, the longest presidency in Europe, that is about the only thing that hasn’t changed. More than 1,000 games and still it happens. “I don’t get nervous,” he says. “It’s worse: I get worried, very anxious. I suffer a lot.