A year ago, a caravan of cars traveled from many parts of Catalonia to Vila-Real. The bottom of LaLiga had drawn against Barcelona, with Ernesto Valverde on the bench, in the first game of the year (2-2), and the arrival of Raúl de Tomás reawakened the illusions for the salvation of a Espanyol that was in the worst sporting situation in its history. But surviving no longer seemed impossible, and that's why up to 3,000 fans packed the stands of a soulless La Cerámica stadium, who saw how Abelardo Fernández's team went ahead 0-2 and ended up holding on despite playing with one less footballer (1-2).
Before the game, the restaurants were filled with Espanyol t-shirts and scarves, and the conversation revolved around the news published by the Pericosonline colleagues at that time, who revealed that Leandro Cabrera would become the center-back who was looking for sports directionIn fact, they had already deposited the ten million buyout clause. Everything was joy, good news, under heavy rain that accompanied throughout Sunday.
Fans in Vila-Real.
ANGEL SANCHEZ
That game, before the arrival of the pandemic, when it was not even a rumor in the international news, was the last smile for the parakeet fan. After that came several disappointments in the blink of an eye that squandered the initial enthusiasm, later aggravated by the inability to attend the field. The team was eliminated from the Cup just three days later, only adding five of the next 12 points of the championship, with a miraculous victory against Vicente Moreno's Mallorca (1-0) that seemed necessary, and saw how the Europa League was vanished with a 4-0 against Wolverhampton.
Everything changed. COVID-19 arrived, the stoppage, the energy against Alavés and Getafe, and finally the grotesque and shame of the last games. In this logical course in Second, of penance, Espanyol recalled in their social networks what the team lived a year ago: the last smile of the fan.