Just four years ago Elche wandered through Second B. The franjiverde set did not finish starting or taking the pulse of a distressing season. The descent left consequences and it took Elche months to feel comfortable and powerful. For these dates, the team from Elche was still trained by Josico after arriving as a replacement for Vicente Mir, who was the one who started the season. pacheta, the miracle coach after rising from Second B to First, had not yet landed by the Martínez Valero.
Just on January 21, 2018, Elche beat Deportivo Aragón 5–1, subsidiary of Real Zaragoza. Mallorca, intractable leader, was ten points away. In Elche there were nerves. Five days after that win, Pacheta arrived and the mentality changed. The man from Burgos put the direct and Elche returned to professional football.
From that dark period Only Gonzalo Verdú and Josan survive in the Elche squad. Both of them They have gone from the Second B well to heaven in just four years. Today they will step on the Santiago Bernabéu to put the icing on a more than worthy career, forged largely in the mud of Spanish football.
Gonzalo Verdú (Cartagena, 1988) is one of the captains of Elche and one of the most beloved players by the franjiverde fans. Josan (Crevillente, 1989) is also adored. The central and the extreme are the resistance franjiverde. They are part of the group of elect from the history of Elche who they have defended their shield in First, Second and Second B. This afternoon they will do it at the Bernabéu, something unthinkable when in 2018 they had to visit Peralada, Santa Eulalia or Sagunto. Maturity has come to them in the elite.