Espanyol knocks down a wall and takes a run towards another

Between the multiple achievements of the victory against Valencia, the last of 2021 and the first at home since the return to First, one of the most relevant is what it means at the qualifying level. Espanyol closes the first round of LaLiga 2021-22 with 26 points, a considerable amount by itself, but much more if one takes into account – and this is the fact of the data – that already the parakeet team adds up more than in the entire relegation season.

In case any hint of those ghosts were still alive, he has just buried himself. He was only able to get 25 points in the 38 days of the 2019-20 campaign. And just nine added up at the equator of the same, at this point, with two changes of coach included. Now, with Vicente Moreno, not only pulverize those very poor records – it should be remembered that it was, statistically, the worst exercise in the history of the Blue and White team – but even those of 2018-19, when Espanyol finished classified for the Europa League after having added 24 points in the first round.

Once that imposing psychological wall has been knocked down, and with almost no time to taste it, another one is immediately presented to him that he has not overcome for even longer. Specifically, seven years. From the 2014-15 season, when at the orders of Sergio Gonzalez reached the semifinals after landing Alavés, Valencia and Sevilla, Espanyol has not been able to overcome the third round of the Copa del Rey. That was his limit a year ago, with Vicente Moreno on the bench, when he fell to Osasuna after eliminating Llagostera and Burgos.

Too in the third ’round’ he was felled in the two previous seasons. In 2019-20, his executioner was Real Sociedad, once he had surpassed Lleida Esportiu and San Sebastián de los Reyes. And in 2018-19, they beat Cádiz and Villarreal but succumbed to Betis.

In the previous years he did not even reach that third round that he now faces, this Tuesday against Ponferradina in El Toralín (9:00 p.m.), after winning Solares (2-3) and Palencia Cristo Atlético (1-2). Another wall to return to normality to a Espanyol as historic in the League as in the Cup.