The Deportivo squandered the option of returning to professional football and will face his third consecutive season in the bronze category, the First RFEFwhen he seemed to have everything in his favor to compete again in LaLiga SmartBank, a target that lost to the Albacete (1-2) in front of his fans, a blow from which he is forced to get up.
THE MAZZLE
The promotion playoff was played in Galicia and Deportivo played in their stadium (assigned by the demand for tickets from the clubs), but not even those circumstances and the support of more than 26,000 fans could take them to the Second Division.
It was even worth the tie if that was the result at the end of extra time, but that didn’t help him either because in the extra period, he fell.
THE KEY MINUTE
At 81 minutes, with the score in favor of Deportivo and a lateral free kick for Albacete, the La Mancha team made a change, the Blue and Whites made two, were left without references with the ball at their feet, and immediately conceded the goal of the tie, a header from Alberto Jiménez in that set piece action.
The team had noticed a significant physical downturn and the players asked for the change in a couple of minutes that ended up being decisive.
THE EXTENSION
Deportivo recovered in the first part of extra time, but in the second they conceded another headed goal from a lateral cross from the right that ended up costing them promotion. If he had kept the tie, he would have been promoted. The disappointment was maximum in Riazor.
THE FORGIVENESS
The players apologized to their fans for having wasted the opportunity to return to the Second Division, for having to play for the third season in a row in the old Second Division B. The captain, Álex Bergantiños, spoke with the ultras at the end of the match and apologized there and in the press room.
COACH
The defeat leaves in the air the continuity of Borja Jiménez, who has a contract but was not ratified by its president, Antonio Couceiro.
Much criticism has focused on the coach and his decisions in the match against Albacete by Rubén de la Barrera from Coruña, whom Deportivo did not renew at the end of last year.
ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL MUSCLE
Deportivo belongs to the financial entity Abanca, the club’s supporter in a category in which income is low and in which the highest income reaches the team through its subscribers.
In the two seasons in Second B and First RFEF, Abanca compensated for the economic losses of the two exercises. The president of Deportivo, Antonio Couceiro, said he had the “absolute support of the first shareholder.”
ESSENTIAL OBJECTIVE
Although it can survive outside professional football, Deportivo, due to its social mass and the entity that it is, with six official titles to its name, needs to recover its place in professional football. It is, as its leader pointed out, the “indispensable objective” of the club.
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