Alavés will travel to the RCDE Stadium in Cornellà with the intention of breaking statistics. He is going to visit an unfavorable setting, where he has never won. In the last three seasons, he has had a draw and two losses scoring a single goal.
He has not won Espanyol at home for 18 years, when Alavés de Mané, in the 01-02 season, started all three points thanks to a goal by Iván Alonso, who wore the shirt of both clubs. In addition, Asier Garitano, at a private level, will seek his first victory in his private duel with Abelardo on the bench.
This time, the two teams will play a final. The babazorros, fourteenth with 32 points, have the opportunity to move away from one of their direct rivals almost permanently. The parakeets, drowned with only 20 points as bottoms, will face each encounter as a survival exercise. As a guarantee they have en El Pitu ’on the bench, a specialist in saving almost evicted teams. This time, he faces one of his most difficult challenges.
Calleri's goal
The Argentine striker, now in the Barcelona ranks, has been the author of the only Gasteiz target in Cornellà in the current albiazul stage in Primera. The balance in this period is discouraging: defeat in the 16-17 season (1-0 with a goal from Piatti), draw in the 17-18 (0-0) and new puncture in the previous one (2-1 with goals from Adrià Pedrosa and Laguardia, in own door, for the premises, and of Jonathan Calleri for the alavesistas).
The balance sheet does not invite optimism either. In his 14 visits to Espanyol, Alavés have only won twice, have tied on three and have lost on nine. Without a doubt, a statistic to break. To do this, he must maintain the good line shown in the eight games of the second round before the break, in which he took an important step forward, especially in duels held away from Mendizorrotza.
Facing the clash, Asier Garitano will have all his staff, with the exception of Joselu, suspended. The entire team, according to the club, has trained normally throughout this week and, unless unforeseen arise, the Babazorro coach will be able to line up his gala eleven, with the exception of the Stuttgart striker.
With Pacheco in goal, Ximo Navarro, Laguardia, Ely and Rubén Duarte are aiming for headlines if they play with four in defense. In the center of the field there is a choice, with Fejsa, Manu, Camarasa and the recovered Tomás Pina as the main options.
Aleix Vidal also starts as a clear candidate for eleven, with Edgar Méndez, Burke, Luis Rioja and Borja Sáinz as candidates to accompany Lucas Pérez in attack. The man from A Coruña will have to contribute a plus to make up for the very important absence of Joselu.
Won 18 years ago
The last albiazul victory at home against Espanyol was in the 01-02 season. On March 24, 2002, at the Lluís Companys Olympic Stadium, Alavés, then trained by Mané, won 1-2. De Lucas, another who has dressed the coats of both sets, overtook the Catalans. A goal by Cava in his own door and another by Iván Alonso gave the Gasteiz fans the victory. The Uruguayan entered in the 71st minute to replace Ibon Begoña.
That day, Alavés formed with Kike; Geli, Karmona, Coloccini, Llorens; Turiel, Astudillo; Mara, Jordi Cruyff, Ibon Begoña; and Great. Martín Herrera, Richard Witschge and Iván Alonso entered the second half. In that season, 01-02, the club managed to qualify for the UEFA Cup for the second and last time in its history.
From there, Alavés has had little fortune in his visits to Espanyol. In season 02-03, the course in which the team dropped to Second A, it fell 3-1. In 05-06, in the middle of Hurricane Piterman, the team also went down and started a draw (0-0).
With the return to First of the albiazul team, the current series of duels between both teams began, ended for the moment with a draw and two defeats for the Alava players.