“I keep the penalty that I stopped Messi, because of how it was lived”

It was in a derby in the RCDE Stadiuman unforgettable game due to the tension and the atmosphere despite the fact that Luuk de Jong spoiled the party with his goal in the 97th minute. That insufficient stretch by the ‘long’ Diego López, who he played 200 games in the club’s history since he reached the end of the 2016 market from Milan. An ideal moment to sit next to the photograph of Ricardo Zamora, the first icon of Spanish football, and explain his feelings after such an event.

In a ten-minute interview in which he answers questions from other great goalkeepers in the club’s history, the Galician goalkeeper is left with precisely a moment from a derby as his best memory on this journey as a parakeet. “I’m left with the penalty saved on Messi, what the stadium transmitted to me was a unique moment, it was exciting how it was experienced. Also when I achieved the club’s unbeaten record or the game in which we get into Europe”commented the meta, who acknowledges that “time has passed very quickly.”

Diego López confesses that he has a great relationship with David López (“we arrived together, we are captains and we have shared a room”) and that he is privileged to share training with a “legend” like Tommy N’Kono. Professionals and parakeets who have helped him internalize what the blue and white club is: “I felt that Espanyol was a family. We are all part of a common and unique feeling. We carry it with pride. When you feel like this, you give a little more”.

The first Diego López arrived on tiptoe at the last minute at Espanyol. After the signing of Roberto Jiménez that same summer, Quique Sánchez Flores asked for another goal and the Galician arrived, who from the beginning took control of the goal and was only relegated to the bench in the 2017-18 season due to injuries. The veteran goalkeeper, captain parakeet, went to Europe, experienced a relegation and a promotion, and now he is trying to stabilize the parakeet boat again.

“It’s a matter of perseverance, effort and work. You have to live the profession with passion and I keep waking up with the illusion of when I was little. We suffer delicate moments, there are others in which one does not feel well, we have to be stronger“, reflects with the residue that gives him a career of more than 20 years in professional football. “The goalkeepers live outside the team. Our mentality must be different, I tried to work on it, that strength is important, “he repeats.

Four months after the end of the contract, and with his renewal still in the air, Diego López is already one of the great goalkeepers in the history of the club. He already only has four goalkeepers with more games ahead of him. José Trias played 216, Carlos Kameni 229, Toni Jiménez 265 and Thomas N’Kono 333. The Galician goalkeeper is already the 41st player with the most appearances in the club’s history and could end the season on a par with Dani Jarque or Julián Riera . “I have broken records, everyone likes their name to appear in a great club like Espanyol. It will be impossible to meet 200 more, I hope that when I am not there people will remember me”, thinks Diego López, already a bit of blue and white history.