From Jarque to Jordán: Espanyol wants the fifth Copa del Rey

The youth of Espanyol, third in the Catalan group of the Division of Honour, comes out of his bubble this Easter to lift the fifth Copa del Rey in its history. In a week of celebrations at the perico club, with the 16th anniversary of the title obtained by the first team in Madrid, Xavi Corominas’ team arrives with “desire and enthusiasm” to enjoy “a prize, for which we landed with energy”.

The final phase of the Copa del Rey is held in Lugo, at the Anxo Carro stadium where Diego López was trained, to add a further nod to the event. Celta, who plays at home for the one next door, would be the Blue and Whites’ rival this Wednesday at 7:00 p.m. “Most of Celta’s players are third-year. They attack spaces very well, you have to be good on defense and we have weapons to attack them as well,” the coach told Espanyol TV.

Since this competition was held in 1950, Espanyol has won four of them and together with FC Barcelona is the team that has won the most since 2000. The first for the Blue and Whites was in 2001. That team had players who reached the highest category, as Dani Jarque, Marc Bertrán, Carlos García, Albert Crusat or Jonathan Soriano, author of one of the goals against Real Madrid in the final (2-0). In 2003 the Blue and Whites repeated with Ángel Pedraza as coach. They defeated Mallorca in extra time in a squad that included Javi Chica.

The Youth that lifted the title in 2004 was full of players who would later reach the elite for many years: Marc Torrejón, Sergio Sánchez, Miquel Robusté, Ángel Martínez, Javi Márquez, Marc Pedraza or Chica himself. They defeated Osasuna 3-2. The last title came in 2012, with Dani Poyatos, now in Japan, as coach. Players like Joan Jordán or Rubén Duarte were also on that team. “There are only four teams here out of 120, the boys will remember this for a lifetime, in a very nice stadium. It will be an exciting match, we want to advance to the final.”

Real Madrid and Betis will dispute before, on Wednesday at 12:30, the other semi-final. The white set is the favoritebut Espanyol has the modern doctorate on how to lift the Cup.