Europe takes its toll

He Espanyol has suffered in their own meats the exigency that supposes have to face three competitions after giving the surprise. Last season, against all odds, he qualified for the Europa League in a project led by Borja Iglesias, Rubi, Marc Roca or Mario Hermoso. Of them, only the midfielder remained, but the place in the continental tournament continued and the squad had to defend it with honor. However, that effort, travel, physical wear … It took its toll and it did not allow parakeet footballers to focus on the great objective: to certify the place in the First Division again. Months later, he has certified the decline to Second, after daydreaming about taking the shield across the continent.

His case is not unique. It's more, In the last decade, on only one occasion, all the teams that achieved the classification for the Europa League repeated in European positions.. It was in the 2015-16 season, when they did it Villarreal and Athletic. They got five in Champions, after the title of second maximum continental competition of Seville and the top four places in Madrid, Barcelona, ​​Atlético and Valencia. The ché team, by contrast, went from the Champions League to 12th place!

What happened to Valencia, however, is something anomalous. Most Champions teams, due to their potential, do not undergo such drastic changes from one season to the next. It does happen to clubs that qualify for the Europa League, perhaps not so used to alternating competitions and that they reached the sixth or seventh place as a result of the great equality that usually exists in the middle area of ​​LaLiga Santander. This is what happened, also, to Espanyol. Also, by surprising it caught the attention of clubs with higher economic potential, which took away capital men. Without clear reconstruction, the descent came.

Betis also succumbed

In the 2012-13 season, Betis, Valencia and Sevilla got into the Europa League. Mestalla experienced a new disappointment the following campaign, with his team outside Europe. In the Seville capital there was a huge contrast: Sevilla did repeat success, but his neighbor not only did not, but sealed his descent to the Second Division as bottom. The enormous demand to combine three competitions also took its toll on that green-and-white project, which fell into hell shortly after achieving a fantastic balance.

Something similar happened to Getafe in the 2010-11 season. After qualifying for the Europa League the previous season, he suffered wear and tear and suffered to the end for retaining the category. In their year of tachycardia, they got into Europe Sevilla, Athletic and Atlético and only the rojiblancos repeated by merit in the domestic championship. The 'lions' also traveled around Europe, thanks to their honor as a Cup finalist. Those of Nervión did not.

In 2011-12, Atlético, Levante and Athletic achieved the European place. Again, only Simeone's consolidated it, while his two rivals were content to belong to the equator of the table. In 14-15, the Real he did not know how to alternate and he stayed in nobody's zone. In 2016-17 the same thing happened to Celtic, far from the posts above. The same as the two Basques in 2017-18. Last season it happened again, with Villarreal and Betis. Striking the Submarine, away from positions of honor during the 38 days.