Diego López and Rubén Castro, double portrait of Dorian Gray

They are not a second youth because, judging by their individual careers and achievements, they have never stopped being young. It is the double portrait of Dorian Gray incarnated in Rubén Castro, 39 years and five months old, and Diego López, who was born four months later. From the two footballers, birth certificate in hand, more veterans of the Second Division. A striker and a goalkeeper who this Wednesday they will meet face to face in Cartagena-Espanyol.

With 403 league games behind his back (counting Serie A), he comes Diego Lopez from meet precisely this Sunday 150 games in the goal of Espanyol, with whom he has won (56 games) more than lost (53) and in which he has finished up to 48 times, almost a third of the total, without conceding goals. No wonder hers is the club unbeaten record in both First (586 minutes) and Second (537 '), this recently achieved. Nor does it seem strange that the Galician, with his usual dexterity, is the second goalkeeper who stops the most, with 82.93 percent of what he is shot.

That effectiveness will be seen this Wednesday in Cartagonova with another stratospheric percentage, that of success in the auctions of Ruben Castro, 36.84 percent, for which he converts more than a third of his shots into a goal. That's why he has eight goals and holds the 'top scorer' of Second – along with the parakeet Raúl de Tomás and the sportinguista Uros Djurdjevic-, in addition to linking 13 days as a starter since he arrived at Cartagena in mid-September. A player as experienced as the canary does not need a week as an adaptation period.

He has never specified it, since debuted, with only 19 years, in a Málaga-Las Palmas de Primera in which he played only one minute, the first of many, replacing Antonio Guayre in the yellow squad. Later, and a little further from home, there was the premiere of Diego López, with Real Madrid at El Sadar, against Osasuna, on April 30, 2006, after Iker Casillas was expelled.

Although between the two exceed a thousand league matches as professionals (403 the goalkeeper, by 608 of the attacker), two are the goals that Castro has scored against Diego. The first, on April 7, 2012 in a Betis-Villarreal (3-1). The second, already with Lugo with his current shirt, in a Espanyol-Betis (2-1) that was played on March 31, 2017 and in which the forward converted a penalty. This Wednesday they will meet again, as the deans of Second, although they are First and as young as the first day.