Espanyol already has eleven

¿What does Espanyol play?? It has been the recurring question during the first section of LaLiga, based on the chameleon records that the team has been adopting Vicente Moreno depending on the opponent, the context of a match and, to a lesser extent, whether he played at the RCDE Stadium or at home. And also subject to the changes in the drawing, from the 4-4-2 that it dragged from the Second Division – and with which it continues to form defensively – to the 4-3-3 going through a 4-2-3-1 or, finally, the 4-1-4-1 of the last day, at home against Granada (2-0).

The victory with which Espanyol reached this stoppage for national teams, the way to achieve it, together with the will of a little brown lover of revolutions –Even little supporter, recognized by him, of the rotations if a greater cause does not demand it– they make foresee that the parakeet coach has found his gala eleven. Or at least with the line-up that you can present when you return from LaLiga, on Saturday 20 November at the Camp Nou against Barcelona (9:00 p.m.) if no injury prevents it. The first derby for Massanassa and also for many of his players.

With Diego Lopez as indisputable in the goal, after exhibitions such as those shown against Athletic, Getafe or Granada and becoming, at 40 years of age, the goalkeeper who stops the First, the defense is also clear, at least while Óscar Gil does not recover. And it is made up of Aleix Vidal on the right-hand side –although his two goals as a parakeet came to him as a winger, it is a position that he has more than assimilated in his career–, Sergi Gómez and Leandro Cabrera as a pair of impregnable center-backs within their area, and a Adrià Pedrosa that is reaching its fullness in the elite, with vertigo and that comes from a great goal against the Nasrid.

At the core, so indisputable seems a Sergi Darder who lives his best days as a Espanyol player – he gave two assists on the last day and is masterfully leading the squad – as, just behind, a Keidi Bare whose presence has given the parrots a balance and a well, in addition to hunger without the ball, which they had been needing, especially at home. The Albanian, however, has Espanyol in suspense, since this Friday night he retired injured at 12 minutes match against England at Wembley.

It also begins to emerge Yangel Herrera, who arrived injured, aiming for an autumn signing, and who already in his debut as a starter last week showed what he is capable of: control and arrival from the second row.

The bands, unless proven otherwise, will be on the one hand for Adrián Embarba, irreplaceable to date for Vicente Moreno, who has gone from less to more and who begins to emulate his best version of last year in the Second Division, perhaps in the absence of a goal that makes him take the leap. And, on the other, for Javi Puado, recovered from a pubalgia, who wants to graduate once and for all in the First Division and who already showed against Granada how he is capable of dragging defenses, drawing constant diagonals and accompanying, if the situation requires it, Raúl de Tomás as second tip.

Because, indeed, the ‘nine’ of this Espanyol, in the derby against Barcelona at the Camp Nou and in any other stadium, is none other than RdT, spurred now by his debut with the Spanish National Team, who will have five days to recover from these hectic days and which counts his last five league games by goals, with seven goals and two assists in total. All the spice of the derby is served and this time too, if nothing strange happens -and with such valuable alternatives on the bench as Óscar Melendo, Manu Morlanes, Nico Melamed or David López–, Vicente Moreno’s eleven.