Returning from exile to continue dreaming with the Unionists: “It's a prize for the people” | Copa del Rey 2019

Jos Angel, a 30-year-old defender, has returned to his city after a brief stage in Hong Kong, where the cruciate ligament was broken.

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  Unionists – R. Madrid (9:00 p.m.)
  

• Previous.
  

  The slopes, covered with snow
  

A cluster of bad decisions ended the Salamanca Sports Union. The worst omens were fulfilled and the historic club stopped beating with 90 years and 12 seasons in First behind. Not as expected, it hurt less. The stadium and the shield were liquidated, their fans were hurried and their captain, Jos ngel Alonso (Salamanca, 1989), forced into exile.

I had a hard time believing that it was going to disappear, at first it didn't seem real at all. It was a situation that made me leave the city, recalls the charro, nostalgic footballer, the time to leave, in the summer of 2013, his home cow football. Little more than six years later, today to rub shoulders with the lite with the visit of Real Madrid.

Jos Angel followed his professional path. Elche, Mallorca and a brief stage in Hong Kong. From Asia it leaves with a torn cruciate ligament. And then, he returned to Salamanca. They gave me facilities without any commitment, it was brave to bet on me.

He talks about Unionistas CF, one of the two teams that filled the city's soccer vacancy. In a pizza maker, several fans plotted the foundation of a new club based on the premises of popular football. A partner, a vote. Up to 35 people spend free time on the tasks of the entity without receiving any compensation. The people who form the club do so selflessly, for the love of football and the club itself, explains the footballer. And all this is born out of necessity, the hunger for football in the town.

“I see a reconciliation difficult”

A hunger that resulted in two clubs, and, with them, a strong rivalry. Salamanca CF UDS has bought things that belong to the real Salamanca, while Unionistas emerges as a tribute. That conflict they maintain is precisely what could unite them, asks the former captain of the original club.

A formerly homeless city of football and, now, divided. Lack of understanding is what keeps them facing each other. I would like them to get along better, it will be good for the city. The two clubs officially broke off last October. I see a reconciliation difficult, acknowledges Jos Angel.

Just 50 meters separate their stadiums. Unionists play in the Helmntico Tracks, some fields attached to the mystical stadium, owned by its current rival. That's where Jos ngel scored the decisive penalty that eliminated Deportivo de La Corua in the previous round and allows them to play against a giant today. We have been lucky that it has fallen to us, it is a great prize for the club, the people who form it and the fans, he says.

No extra tiers

The board, the costumes and the players have led a battle with the City Council to play in Las Pistas, with a capacity for 4,000 people and in which no additional stands could be installed. We have to remember those who are every day, those who have gone cold and eat the fog, argues proudly, the unionist captain, Jess Hernndez, Louse.

With him I agreed, in the late Salamanca, Jos ngel, who was then captain of the team. In Unionists the roles have been reversed: Now it's me who looks at him. Both remember perfectly, as fans, the historic victory of Salamanca against Barcelona 4-3 on the Night of Kings 1998. It is their turn, they have to pay an authentic tribute to the club they defended until their last days.