Wearing the Barcelona shirt, curiously a historical rival of Real Madrid and Espanyol, Aleix Vidal already knows what it means to win and score against the white team as a visitor. In fact, he is one of the few Espanyol players who can boast of it. The winger hasn’t forgotten that episode and hopes to repeat this Saturday, a match that could crown Real Madrid as league champions if he manages to score against Espanyol.
With the score at 0-2 in the classic of the 2017-18 season, Vidal came out on the pitch to replace Sergi Roberto. Barça was already winning placidly by 0-2 and, in the addition, a cross from Leo Messi was finished off by the now Espanyol winger himself at the bottom of the goal defended by Keylor Navas. It was 0-3. “I wish it would happen again. I know what it’s like to win and score there, and it’s a nice moment to experience it. If I have a minute on Saturday, I want to repeat what I did there.”
The Catalan may have those minutes due to the more than doubtful presence of Óscar Gil, injured. Vicente Moreno does not have many more variants since Miguel Llambrich has hardly participated this course and the youth squad Rubén Sánchez is not the priority today. Vidal also considers that Espanyol has not yet achieved its first objective. “The objective is to achieve salvation once and for all. And then we will look up what the margin of points gives. It is not mathematical and you have to go to the Bernabéu to win or add”he commented for Espanyol TV.
Espanyol continues with its preparation for a match that could be a party for the locals, who have lost 4-3 against Manchester City but have the opportunity to be champions mathematically if they draw. A point that could also be worth a Espanyol that would reach 40 and would add away from homewhere this campaign are living a real ordeal.