Rufete: “It is no coincidence that we beat Madrid”

The visit lasted two and a half hours. It could last seven. Football is reduced to “winning”, as Francisco Rufete, Espanyol sports director, writes in the piazarra, but behind that verb a thousand and one details are conjugated. During that period of time, the sports department presented the remodeling of the Ciudad Deportiva and its project. Rufete summarized the talk in an idea: “We believe that it is no coincidence that we beat Real Madrid“A way to reinforce his work since he took office and after the disaster for which he” takes responsibility “for the decline.

The Espanyol Sports City has mutated. First in tonality. A dark blue covers the buildings and the perimeter. There are four main rooms, that of the coaches of grassroots football and the Elite Group (Espanyol B and Juvenil A), that of recruitment and analysis, medical services and management. All of them have an identifying name, such as 21, 1900, 'Blanc i Blau' or Perico. “We have thematized each space, that gives identity”, explains Hugo Blanco, director of the controversial department at the beginning. In the changing rooms there is a Espanyol crest and phrases surround the entire building. “A parakeet never gives up,” reads the locker room tunnel before entering the main field turf. In the halls the photographs of the homegrown players who arrived at Primera are being renewed. Jarque is the example to follow, the only icon.

3,000 data per week and per team

Espanyol's model is based on data (up to 3,000 per team each week) although decisions are also made with other qualitative criteria: “Information is power. The more we have, the better. Then we will decide”, reflects Rufete, who considers that “We had the obligation to move up but we took advantage of the year to do a project, to build, to do more things”, he explains with his usual passion. Along with him, Josep Maria Durán, CEO, and Mao Ye, director.

As they have already been repeating over the months, Hugo Blanco explained that the main objective is to generate sports heritage and accelerate the training processes. That is why it enslaves the process between the ages of 16 and 19, as the youth soccer coordinator Luis Vicente Mateo also analyzed: “We have to be clear about the player profiles, know how to identify those who have the capacity to promote to the first team,” he details.

Espanyol focuses mainly on Catalonia, although it is beginning to be present in other areas such as Murcia or the Valencian Community. After the victory against Real Madrid, which has recovered the greatness of the club, the sports department opened its doors to learn about its insides and its way of working. Sant Adrià is another, in image and in distribution of spaces. As Rufete sentences, “All of this would be meaningless if it wasn't won.”