The Granada achieved this Thursday against Naples one of the most prestigious victories (2-0) of his ninety years of life, a triumph that came in the first leg of the Europa League round of 32 and in the team's 38th game this season, the equivalent of an entire league complete even though the calendar is still in February.
Naples suffered in their flesh to Diego Martínez's Granada, an intense, intelligent, chameleonic team, very capable and that makes the most of its resources, in a clash that puts the rojiblancos on track for the round of 16, determined to continue making history in its first European journey in nine decades of existence.
The merit of the great performance of Granada is even greater if one takes into account that it is the team from Spain, and one of the entire continent, whoe more official matches have played this campaign, with a total of 38, despite the fact that even March has not yet arrived, and all in just five months.
These almost forty meetings, moreover, have been more compressed than ever, since the official competition began this year in mid-September when the previous campaign ended late due to the effects of the coronavirus.
A league in just five months, with an average of one game every four days, It is something difficult to face for any team and even more so for a novice in these struggles and who, on top of that, has a limited budget that is not even among the top ten in the top national category.
Twenty-three games in the domestic championship, nine in the Europa League and five in the Copa del Rey make up the stressful and exhausting competitive stretch traveled so far by Granada in a successful way in exactly 159 days.
The Andalusian team has won just half of the matches played, 19 out of 38, starting with the first one played on September 12 against Athletic Club (2-0) to open LaLiga Santander and concluding with that of this Thursday against Naples to feed your European dream.
These good records allow Granada, in addition to getting on track his pass to the round of 16 of the Europa League, to be located in a comfortable eighth place in LaLiga Santander, close to a permanence in First, which is his priority objective despite the fact that accumulated wear has made him link five games without winning.
In the Cup his career was also outstanding, since he stayed at the doors of the semifinals after being eliminated by Barcelona in the extension of a quarterfinal match that was leading 2-0 until the 87th minute.
This accumulation of encounters in a short time has affected the team in the form of injuries, since several players have been or are injured with muscle problems, apart from the fact that Granada has been one of the Spanish teams most affected by the coronavirus.
This forces every week and, above all, before each game Diego Martínez to do what he himself has described as “engineering management efforts “to compose your eleven headlines.
Having already played the equivalent of a full league makes some players, especially winger Carlos Neva, have accumulated more minutes so far this course than in a normal season total.
In addition, the number of matches for the internationals in the squad is greater as they have also participated in commitments with their national teams, especially in the case of Darwin Machís and Yangel Herrera, fixed in the Venezuelan team.
The long road of the rojiblancos has not finished, since after the magical night lived this Thursday he has to play Sunday in Huesca a game that he will have to prepare in just a couple of days and in which it is certain that the coach will be forced to modify his starting eleven with fresh footballers.
And on thursday visit to Diego Armando Maradona in Naples, where the team of the eternal fight will try to make good the 2-0 of the first leg, crown another historical height by going to the round and show that this Granada, despite the tremendous load of parties this campaign, has no ceiling.