From Diego López’s goal to Sergio González’s 87th gate

shrunken heart. A book can be written with the carousel of sensations experienced/suffered by a team that wages the battle for permanence on the last day. In it Espanyol they know it well, with unimaginable scripts like that unforgettable goal by Coro He turned 16 a few days ago. But surely she would give for a series of Netflix get into the mind of the other party, the one that usually goes unnoticed, which is that of the players of the rival team. The theoretician stone guest. The one that does not play anything. And that must have happened to the Blue and Whites, who had to move between professionalism, competitiveness, and empathy. An emotional via crucis that was resolved with Espanyol witnessing the drama of the Granada and, for wanting to see the glass half full, lending a hand to Sergio Gonzalez, who like a good parakeet was saved when it was most difficult. Gate 87 of the RCDE Stadium is still of First.

The less thought day. At least ten days ago, since he reached mathematical permanence -if not before, with that triumph against the Celta who achieved 39 points, a long month ago–, Espanyol is more aware of its future, which is actually present after the departure of its coach and sports director, than of closing a season in which through the classification there were still A few million at stake. At home, this abandonment of functions could be extended to the entire course. And yet, on the day that was least expected, one of Espanyol’s most decent away games arrived, the only way out with Louis White on the bench, which has much of its reason in the terrible situation of a Granada prisoner of paralyzing nerves. The trembling of the prisoner on death row in front of the tranquility of the walker.

Life in a few centimeters. The domain was parakeet, also some of the clearest occasions, although most of the arrivals melted in the last meters like an ice cream under the sun of this torrid May. On countless occasions time stopped for the Nasrids, almost the hearts, but none like in those centimeters of the first part. Those who went hand in hand Cabrera to your body so that Hernandez Hernandez reconsider, at the call of the WAS, who had committed a penalty. And those who kept the penalty away from Jorge Molina of the goal of Diego Lopez, who had also launched successfully. Permanence, life, in a few centimeters.

More than a last service. With the victories of Mallorca y Cadizin two of the 40-year-old players of this Liga (the other is Joaquin) was that salvation. In Jorge Molina and in a Diego López who, on the brink of rest, had already stopped another powerful shot at the striker, and who three minutes into the match had taken a providential hand against Anthony Gates. The Espanyol goalkeeper was not playing for relegation, but what could have been his last game with the Espanyol shirt, in the First Division or who knows if in his entire professional career. Something more than a last service, as in the case of David López, who if his departure was confirmed could at least say goodbye as a starter, exercising his hierarchy on the pitch and with his captain’s armband. Both Diego and David hugged each other when the center-back changed, just as they had seven days before at the RCDE Stadium.

The template hour 22-23. When the pulsations drop, back to reality. Subdued to the rhythm of Chen Yansheng, owner of 99.6 percent of the share capital, the perhaps most capital decisions were made at Espanyol just a few hours after mathematical permanence was reached, ten days ago. Destitute Vincent Moreno and not renewed Laundry, coach and sports director, respectively. The footballers left scot-free then, who will be the protagonists from today. It is the turn of the market, of the renewals or the announcements of the end of the contract, of which signings already agreed upon acquire an official character, of the promotion of youth squads -one of them, Luca Warrickmade his debut in Granada in the midst of relegation drama–, of endless moves so that the Espanyol of the future is better than the one of this season that is ending, or not.