Not all fairytales have a happy ending...
Lucas Pérez came back down to earth with a bump for Dépor
2023 has been the stuff of fairytales for Lucas Pérez. He left LaLiga club Cádiz to head back north to rejoin his boyhood club, Deportivo de La Coruña, to help their campaign for promotion from Primera RFEF in the third tier of Spanish football.
On his debut (his fourth debut having had three previous spells at the club), he scored twice in front of 23,745 Dépor fans against Unionistas.
“Today is a special match, I'm coming back home, I'm coming back to Riazor, I liked the atmosphere. That's what we're looking for, what we want and we want it to be a party,” he had said after that unique match.
On the outskirts of the Madrid suburb of Alcorcón six days later, he would have a bump back down to earth.
This top-four clash pitted Dépor against one of only three teams above them. With a sold-out away following having made the five-and-a-half hour journey and ID checks on season tickets to avoid Galician fans making it into the home end, the importance was clear.
Óscar Cano’s side are no strangers to being the big dogs in Primera RFEF, having played in the third-tier since 2020, following two relegations in three years. Yet as they line up with Lucas Pérez again, their fans believe that they have the quality to escape the lower divisions.
Alcorcón’s Estadio Santo Domingo holds 5,100 fans and was not full, despite tickets selling out more than 24 hours before the game. It was a far cry from Riazor on the previous Sunday.
The yellow-and-blue colours of the seats in the Alcorcón stands provided an eerily similar look to Cádiz’s Estadio Nuevo Mirandilla, but in colour only, as the difference between Primera and Primera RFEF became clear.
And it was the home team who took the lead. With eight minutes before half-time, Pablo García broke free in the box and slotted the ball under Dépor goalkeeper Ian Mackay. Moments later, Mackay had to stretch again to deny Chiki, this time with a towering header palmed off the line.
Dépor were under pressure and had only scored nine goals away from home all season going into this tie. Mario Soriano, the source of much of their offensive play, is best known for a 16-minute cameo for Atletico Madrid as Cornellà knocked them out of the Copa del Rey in 2021.
As Alcorcón cut Soriano down again on the stroke of half-time, a furious Lucas raced over to referee José David Martínez Montalbán to protest. He was duly booked in his first real involvement of the half.
The second period went from bad to worse. Lucas’ highlight came as he threw himself to the ground to appeal for a free-kick for a flailing arm, instead nearly earning himself a second yellow. While he avoided a dismissal, his captain and goalkeeper Mackay did see the red card as he blocked a chip with his hand outside the box on 63 minutes.
But then, Lucas showed his pedigree. Breaking through he outpaced Jean-Sylvain Babin and was pulled down, then stepping up to convert the free-kick with a curling effort into the top corner from 20 yards. Deportivo were level, and it was all thanks to Lucas.
One man cannot do it all on his own, and so it proved. Alcorcón hit back. The 10 men of Décor continued to push and looked the more confident, but defensively gaps were opening up and Berto González capitalised to spin an effort from the edge of the box beyond substitute goalkeeper Edu Sousa.
The visiting team bombarded the Alcorcón goal in numbers, but more with players in the rival half than with substantial goal-scoring chances. It was that which allowed Alcorcón to make it three in injury time, with match-winner Berto hacked down and Adrian Dalmau converting from the spot to make it 3-1 to the home side.
The season is long and Dépor remain comfortably in a play-off position with a six-point cushion, even if that could be reduced to three by the end of the weekend. But after the fairytale of Lucas’ return made it seem that their destiny was promotion, Alcorcón have burst their bubble and reminded them: not all fairytales have a happy ending.