FOOTBALL The curse of playing in Europe that ends in decline

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There is a popular saying that goes, “Be careful what you wish for, it will come true.” And in football, the granting of the ambitious desire to play in Europe has an unwritten small print that warns of the risk of losing the category. These six teams touched heaven to play in Europe, but landed in hell to descend to Segunda in the same season.

Not all teams resist the requirement to play three competitions without giving up on any of them. In the twenty complete seasons that have been played so far in the 21st century, up to eight times, Spanish clubs that have played in Europe have ended up descending to Second. Espanyol have been the last team to suffer the curse of playing European competition. Before, Villarreal, Betis, Alavés, Zaragoza and Celta had already suffered 'success' (the latter two have suffered twice).

A year ago Espanyol had just thrashed Icelandic Starjman 4-0. It seemed the dream start for a team that had returned to play in Europe and was called to consolidate in the upper area of ​​the classification. Nothing foreshadowed that he would suffer the European curse of going down to Second. In Europe his opportunities ended in the round of 32, when he crossed paths with the English Wolverhampton and he has spent most of the League days in relegation positions. Despite having a staff valued at 130 million, according to Transfermarkt, playing Europe has been expensive for the Catalan team.

That season Betis started with a focus on the Europa League and in the League it soon showed signs of having a bad time. On matchday ten he went downhill and no longer came out in the remainder of the campaign, in fact, by the end of the first lap he already had salvation to seven points. However, he played well in the Europa League, until the round of 16 came. In this round he was eliminated against Sevilla, on penalties. At that point, in domestic competition he was already sentenced to relegation.

Villarreal have been one of the last teams to suffer the curse of Europe. After several seasons in which he had become accustomed to competing in the Champions League, where he became a semifinalist, only Arsenal seemed determined to thwart the yellow European dream. However, in the 20011-12 season, the team suffered a lot from the European elimination. It does not pass the group stage and falls in December. The team is at that time in 17th place, tied on points with the team that marks the relegation, it was day 16. On the 18th, he fell to relegation positions and was no longer able to leave the dangerous zone until, on the last day, he ended up certifying his fall to the Second Division.

This was the last campaign in which Zaragoza played the UEFA Cup, after finishing sixth in the previous season. However, the Greek Aris left them out of the competition at the first exchange. Initially, they did not seem to acknowledge the blow, since on matchday 8 they were installed in the eighth position in the table, with the same points as the sixth, since it gave access to play in Europe. However, on matchday 19 he was already ten points from the European positions and two from the descent. The season was getting complicated. In the second round he only added 20 points out of the possible 57 and finished third to one point from salvation.

This situation had already been experienced in the 2001-2002 season. On that occasion, Zaragoza had earned a place to play the UEFA Cup as Cup champion, after eliminating Atlético de Madrid in the semifinals and defeating Celta with a clear 1-3, although in the League there had been struggled and had saved the category by one point. In that 2000-2001 season, he had also played in the UEFA Cup, although he was dropped from the first substitution by Wisla from Kraków, on penalties. However, the shock of the previous season did not prevent the European curse from falling on Zaragoza in the 2001-2002 season and the blanquillo team finished last in the standings with 37 points and condemned to play in Segunda, after only adding nine wins and ten draws.

Freshly promoted to First, he sneaked into European competitions again, this time in UEFA. In Vigo, they expected to have a lesson learned from what happened a few seasons ago and with a remodeled squad led by Gustavo López, one of the players who were still on the 2002-2003 squad and the banner of the new EuroCelta, supported by the Brazilian scorer Baiano. . However, history repeated itself, in Europe they fell in eighths, this time at the hands of Werder Bremen. In the league they returned to stay at the fateful figure of 39 points, with ten wins and nine draws. They were second to last to a point of salvation, the full victory in the last three days against Betis, Atlético and Getafe did not help., the European curse was hatching with the vigueses three seasons later.

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And is that the team from Vigo again suffered the curse of dreaming of Europe. He had experienced it in the 2003-2004 season. Without major revolutions, the team's base was the same as the previous season had secured a ticket for the Champions, with Mostovoi leading the team, but with the offensive reinforcement of Milosevic. They reached eighth of the maximum continental competition, but Arsenal eliminated them. Despite that Celtic he had managed to win a match for Milan and another for Ajax in the group stage. However, in the national championship they only managed nine victories and 12 draws. With 39 points and in 19th place, he ended up descending to Second.

Alavés still had in his retina the UEFA Cup final that he had played and lost against Liverpool in the 2000-2001 season, after eliminating teams like Inter Milan, Rayo Vallecano or Kaiserlautern. After this success, he remained close to the European positions and in the 2002-2003 season, he went back to qualify for the UEFA Cup. Blinded by the recent success, they wanted to repeat it, however, it could not be. Turkish Besiktas ruined Alaves' European illusionsIn the league competition, a victory and two draws in the last ten games condemned him to the penultimate position. That is the last time that Vitorians have played in Europe.