In two key moments, of those that are considered psychological, Sergi Darder struck two claws at the Nuevo Castalia that served Espanyol to collect three points very important that they place him as provisional leader. Just before the break, and after a combination between Óscar Melendo and Nico Melamed, he scored 1-2. And in the resumption, with the same protagonists plus Raúl de Tomás as a guest star, he made the final 1-3. The Mallorcan would still score a hat-trick, but the VAR canceled it by a few inches. It is his only blemish. And this is not the first time.
The video refereeing also deprived him of taking the ball signed two years ago, at Espanyol-Rayo Vallecano on February 9, 2019. On that occasion, he canceled not one but two goals. The first, like this Friday, for an offside of the midfielder. The second, for another 'offside', but from Roberto Rosales, who assisted him. And the third time was the charm, with a relentless volley from the edge of the area that gave the parakeets victory in the 95th minute of the match in Cornellà. AND If the VAR was not blind in those two 'hat-tricks' that fate has denied Darder, he was. “I will never say that the goals are my merit, because I close my eyes and I never know where I hit”The player himself acknowledged after Castalia's 1-3 on the club's channels.
Precisely that season from 2-1 to Rayo, 2018-19, was the only one in his professional career in which Darder had managed to score five goals, like the ones he has now, with the exception that he made four in LaLiga then and one in the Copa del Rey. It was the campaign that He had started with his message of 'Dar Hiking' and that concluded with Espanyol classified for Europe. The current one, that of his release in a much more fluid game – without going any further, against Castellón he had a millimeter precision in passes, with 92.98% (64 good of 68 attempts) -, he hopes to finish it again in the First Division. At the moment, it cannot go a better way.