Espanyol's worst nightmare
Everything seems to be going wrong for R.C.D. Espanyol. What looked like an ambitious project with a coveted manager such as Diego Martínez has turned into a bad dream… that could get a lot worse.
After losing to Sevilla F.C. at the Sánchez Pizjuán last Thursday with a late 88th minute goal by Pape Gueye, they’re now further away from direct rivals Getafe and Valencia, in their battle to avoid relegation.
This means ‘los pericos’ are currently 19th with 31 points, three less than Getafe and Valencia, four away from Valladolid and Cádiz, and five points from Almería.
At first glance, with five fixtures left and 15 points to play, they still have possibilities of saving themselves from dropping down. The problem is their next match is against local rivals F.C. Barcelona, who are now just two points away from winning their first league in the last four years. Which means Barça could seal the title by beating Espanyol at the RCDE Stadium. An enticing prospect for many culés who’d love to put Espanyol fans through such an undesirable experience.
The scenes would be hard to digest, but they’re definitely not as bad as knowing that another consecutive defeat will have Espanyol depending on some sort of miracle to avoid relegation. So Barça could not only win the title there, but also drag them further away from salvation.
A situation both teams are quite familiar with, given ‘los blaugrana’ sealed Espanyol’s fate in 2020 after defeating them 1-0 at the Camp Nou with a Luis Suárez goal. It had to be their worst enemy sending them down 27 years later…
Yet there’s another possible outcome. If Real Madrid lose the day before, Barça would already be the domestic champions before playing at the RCDE Stadium. Then Espanyol would only have to do the traditional “pasillo” to congratulate the league winners, if they decide to do so.
Although the truth is that that would also be bad new for ‘los pericos’ because Real Madrid actually play against Getafe, who are directly above them in the standings. So Espanyol will definitely be rooting for Carlo Ancelotti’s men, even though it’s likely that his players will probably be thinking about the second leg Champions League clash against Manchester City.
In any case, Luis García knows that their only realistic option is to grab one or three points against Barça. The second case scenario looks a little more unlikely given Espanyol haven’t won against Barça in LaLiga since 2003… 20 years ago! Whereas the last two encounters ended in a draw.
Once that game is over it doesn’t get that much easier for the Catalan side who face Rayo Vallecano, a team that still has a slim hope of grabbing a European spot, followed by an inspired Atlético de Madrid. Finally, they visit Valencia at Mestalla and then play against Almería, two direct opponents in the relegation mix.
Espanyol have put themselves in an extremely delicate situation which could turn their bad dream into an awful nightmare if they don’t react on time to fight against all odds.