Redemption of Thomas

It does not exist in football better method of mental healing than goal. Ask Raúl de Tomás, protagonist of a redemption double that before the end of the week can become triple. The front, author of two of the four goals of Espanyol in this league and one of the assists, He went to Alavés from a superlative frustration to raise his status as essential for the parakeet team.

“They pass you many things in mind, because I had scored two goals and they had been annulled, and that is something that remains in my mind ”, acknowledges De Tomás. It is not for less. TO after 18 minutes, the VAR had already disabled two of his targets –The second, with spectacular control and definition– and their respective celebrations. And in minute 54, when still with 0-0 on the scoreboard faced a penalty shot, He not only remembered those two goals but his luck with the maximum penalties. It came from failing the previous three, in Second, against Albacete, Leganés and Almería, and even a fourth in preseason in front of Rayo Vallecano. “When it was my turn to shoot, i cleaned my head and I did it as I know ”, he resolves.

With a bomb-proof self-esteem, the redemption of Raúl de Tomás can live a new chapter this Saturday, in which it will be the first official match of his career against Sevilla. After playing more than 200 matches between First, Second, the Copa del Rey and even the Champions League, and as a military man in Rayo Vallecano, Valladolid, Córdoba, Benfica and even Real Madrid, he has never faced a rival who, paradoxically, tested his signing when in January 2020 capsized in Portugal, but Espanyol had persuaded him before.

The Madrilenian, who nevertheless Yes, he has played for Sánchez Pizjuán, but against Sevilla Atlético -with a doublet included, on April 16, 2017 as a Pucela player–, he was about to play against Sevilla shortly after his landing at the perico club, the February 16, 2020, but some discomfort in the right abductor prevented him train in the previous one and, therefore, could not travel to the Andalusian capital.

Curiously, until that weekend, counted by goals all his matches with Espanyol –Four in LaLiga and one in the Cup–, but I would never mark that season again. “Hopefully this does not stop here, we must try to get the three points in all fields where we go,” he says now, from redemption to redemption.