An Irish summer vacation

It is quite difficult for Espanyol to boast of having a Champions champion on their roster. It doesn't happen every day. One of the most recent players with this label was Steve Finnan (Limerck, 1976). This Irishman arrived in Barcelona in September 2008 with the task of making Pablo Zabaleta forget. Espanyol paid a million euros for their transfer. His lineup was extraordinary: European champion in 2005, the Super Cup and with extensive experience in Liverpool, a top-tier club.

But Finnan was a fish away from water, something that already happened to him in England. Despite training and playing in the city of the Beatles, the footballer, not very sociable and lonely, lived in Manchester. Two cities separated by 55 kilometers, although, beyond that transport hassle, the crumb of the case is that it coexists with a deep-rooted football rivalry. Already in Barcelona, ​​Finnan lived in Diagonal Mar – like most of the club's dates – and his public appearances had only one setting: the beach. Whether it was autumn or winter, the Irishman made the most of his summer by drinking beers on a terrace in the Mar Bella or Barceloneta. It was the most recurring image of a footballer who terminated his contract in the summer of 2009, just as the beach made sense.

On the field, Finnan was chased by incessant bad luck. He debuted on the third day, against Getafe. Espanyol was a leader and from that moment it plummeted. The following day, the footballer was injured and spent two months in the infirmary. He returned to Numancia and Racing, but returned to visit the infirmary. Espanyol lost both games and Tintín Márquez was fired. With Finnan on the field, Espanyol only scored one point. Winter came, the sun disappeared, and Finnan was about to sign for Hull City. He did not pass the medical examination and remained in Barcelona.

With Pochettino, the Irishman played a few minutes in the Copa del Rey quarter-final second leg against Barça. What did Espanyol do? Lose 3-2. That was the last contribution of a European champion who did not show his resume: he underwent surgery on February 28 of the external meniscus. Curiously, a week before, the Delapeñazo occurred on the last stage that Finnan stepped on, the Camp Nou. The Irishman's farewell was the beginning of the comeback towards permanence.

He returned to England to play at Portsmouth but that same season he retired. And disappeared from the face of the earth. In 2015, journalists wanted to do reports and interviews on the ten years of the Istanbul Champions League (won against Milan after a comeback) but they did not find it. Now he lives in London, on his personal business.