Elche seeks the heroic against Real Madrid

History turns its back on the illusions of Elche in his visit to Real Madrid. In the 21 league games he has played at his stadium in the First Division, throughout his almost one hundred years of life, he has never achieved victory. In fact, He has only been able to come back from this duel with three draws. From the last one, more than 45 years have passed. It was on December 7, 1975, with a two-point match. On that occasion, Pirri put the madridistas ahead with two goals in the first half, but after the break the Paraguayans Aníbal Montero and Ricardo González signed the tables. That Elche, like the current one, was a team with a clear South American accent.

In the rest of precedents, 18 devastating defeats. The first two stand out as the two biggest goals conceded by Elche in its history: 11-2 and 8-0, in the two seasons that served as premiere for the franjiverdes in First, by the hand of the ex-Azulgrana César Rodríguez. The goalscoring balance is also devastating. In the 23 official precedents at the Bernabéu, including the League and two Cup qualifiers, the whites have celebrated 87 goals and have only conceded 21. With an average of 4.1 for each game.

Regardless of the last tie, the other two tied were at 68-69, in which Elche reached the Cup final (which also lost at the Bernabéu, against Athletic Club); and in 70-71, which marked the end of a brilliant cycle in the highest category of the people of Elche, with twelve consecutive seasons in the elite.

In Elche, although the domain is still white, the franjiverdes yes that they have given him some scare that another to his adversary of this afternoon. In the first leg, without going any further, Fidel equalized Modric's goal to sign the tie. And in 2013, only that incredible penalty awarded to La Roca over Pepe allowed Ancelotti's men to beat Escribá's men, who will repeat on the bench today. Elche also prevented Real Madrid from ending the season with full victories. On the penultimate round of the League, in Altabix, Curro knocked down Miguel Muñoz's men for the first time.

Now, as that time and as it has always been the usual trend, Elche only has to appeal to the heroic one so as not to return empty to the city of palm trees.