With the bittersweet news of the permanence of Female A in Primera Iberdrola -Sweet for avoiding relegation, sour for achieving it without having deserved it, with five points and no victory- began in May 2020, in which soon the training of Abelardo Fernández's team resumed. Specifically, on the 7th, and in the face of enormous sanitary restrictions.
Those who were soon left out of complying with the punctilious protocol of LaLiga were Óscar Perarnau and Fran Navarro, dismissed on May 26 of his positions in the technical secretariat and as coordinator of the quarry, respectively. It would not take long for Francisco Joaquín Pérez Rufete, on June 7, to assume full powers in the first team and grassroots football for both men and women. Later he would also be a coach.
But until he got there, there were weeks of training, public warnings about a high risk of injury and also some flames. Like the Wu Lei, saying that “miracles begin with the feet on the ground”, or Abelardo: “Save us? I am Asturian, we started the Reconquest”. It seemed that they were right when, at the restart of the competition already behind closed doors on June 13, Espanyol beat Alavés with goals from the Chinese attacker himself and Bernardo Espinosa.
Only three days later, hope seemed valid after a goalless draw in Getafe, due to the image offered, and due to the apparent bad luck of a controversial expulsion of Bernardo for a slap at Damián Suárez, which would also condition the next match. And there, at Espanyol-Levante on June 20, the turning point arrived, when the house of cards collapsed. Espanyol lost 1-3 and sank, which was confirmed the following day, against Betis (1-0), when they got eight points away from permanence.
Rufete, on a hydration break during Espanyol-Real Madrid.
RODOLFO MOLINA (DIARIO AS)
In those days Espanyol signed Domingo Catoira as technical secretary and Luis Vicente Mateo as quarry coordinator, before Abelardo was fired the same week that the club spoke with his agent about renewing and that Rufete will jump directly to the bench. It was on the eve of the match against Real Madrid, in which he debuted with a 0-1 that virtually certified the death of the Blue and Whites in First, with ten points away from the salvation zone.
They were so surreal moments that, far from the tracksuit and the cap, even the Minister of Health –and renowned parakeet– Salvador Illa stated in an interview on RAC-1 on June 29 that in Espanyol many things had been done wrong. And, to end the month, the entity reported by surprise to Jordi Ferrón, coach of Femenino A, who would not continue. He had one more year on his contract. Too bad that July was not going to improve things much …