Espanyol: the ghost in you

‘Overtaking’ vs aspirin. Getafe-Espanyol gathered all the characteristics to mark a before and after in the imaginary parakeet. And not only because of the possibility of becoming the first win away, on the fourth day without losing, even above the eventual rematch against Quique Sánchez Flores. In reality, it was a struggle between the past and the future. Among the fame, the sanbenito, we would almost say that condition, aspirin team and the perhaps ephemeral but real option of advancing in the classification to Barcelona, ​​the eternal rival. Obviously, the result solves the riddle of what luck prevailed. Getafe resurrected, in their first victory of the season after 12 games, and Espanyol wasted an opportunity as symbolic as it is representative. A break that did not occur. A ghost – probably the origin of Vicente Moreno’s lament about the ups and downs in his mood – that refuses to disappear.

The beginnings of Espanyol. Despite the enthusiasm emanating from the team, and the real desire of the players and coaching staff to win, what happened from the start at the Coliseum was not an isolated event. If it is a coincidence, start believing in fate. We are talking about those hesitant beginnings, in which the rival excessively threatens the parrots and forces Diego López to show the best of his repertoire, which is to say: at 11 minutes he had already three interventions of merit. It happened against Getafe, in need of a victory, but almost in the same week it had happened against Athletic Club and Elche.

Scare or death. Because it seems that in the blue fiefdom, once the scene of some disrespectful Halloween celebration, Espanyol took its capabilities as a reactive team to the extreme. He suffered a real harassment that led to the goal of Ünal, after a contemplative error by Embarba. And with a balance of seven shots against and none in favor, one arrival was enough to reach the tie, Sergi Gómez and Cabrera through. As if he had become fond of playing scare or death, his habit lately of ending the night with a basket full of sweets. Although, on this occasion, even the sweets ended up bitter. It was scare and it was death, football. There was no trick or treat.

The other ‘nines’. It rains and it is cold outside when Raúl de Tomás is not there. Literally. It was time to check what the other ‘nines’ of the squad are capable of in the First Division. Vicente Moreno chose to start with Dimata, the first victim of a team locked in its own field and giving signals after his best dances are offered when he has a companion. And that is why Loren surely entered the resumption, and even being testimonial, the 4-4-2 contributed to the Belgian being decisive in a goal later canceled but in which at least he showed his nose as a finisher. And that’s it. His partner, to date, not even that. The opposite happened at the beginning of the second half than in the first, because just when Espanyol was encouraged Ünal reappeared in an isolated race to hit with his second target. The other ‘nine’. The one that did work.

Blue and white shoots. They tried to emulate the parrots in the Coliseum that other final stretch of the afternoon at the Benito Villamarín, both games with the red passion shirt, and both encounters with suffering and disconnections as the main hallmark. This time the coin came out tails. That scare and death. Perhaps, in view of Granada, that derby that is just around the corner and what is coming, the green shoots of Espanyol were in the minutes that Yangel Herrera and Puado are accumulating, both called to be headlines of this Espanyol that, Although in Getafe he showed his worst face, in general he continues to contradict that phrase of Quique Sánchez Flores and his “we don’t give up any more”. The same one who read ‘The clown in you’ before visiting Luis Enrique’s Barça, or who later referred to Chen Yansheng’s Espanyol as a “ghost project.” As a ring to the finger for Halloween.