The shadows of Espanyol

As true as that Espanyol's chances of winning the Cup would have remained minimal even in the event of reaching the round of 16, it is that victory is a candy that no one is indigestible. And that defeat ends up devastating even the most carefully prepared fallow. The elimination in the hands of an excessively comfortable Osasuna closes the page of an exciting tournament, more for the story than for real expectations, and focuses all the focus on the true 'leitmotiv' of the season, which represents the reverse of the coin, the obligation. Go up. Ascend. Back to First.

In this scenario, which seems to have been trodden but is new, it passes a Espanyol already knowing that they have 21 games left, not one more and not one less, to retract the campaign blind. And that those 21 games they will define their destiny not only for next year but probably for the club, because of the economic gulf between the current category and the one that should never have been abandoned. In short, that Everything is at stake from Vicente Moreno and his players to the CEO, Jose Maria Duran, and the sports general director, Francisco Joaquin Perez Rufete. And even if successful, the mission will have only just begun.

The defeat against Osasuna, more the how than the what, raises some uncertainties. In the short term, on the managing a template that had learned to share minutes, not equally because it is impossible, but to feel important. However, without the soda from the Cup and hardly any weekdays as there were in abundance in the first round, Players like Oier Olazabal, Matías Vargas, Pol Lozano, let alone Víctor Campuzano or Álex López, run the risk of disappearing henceforth, and still luck of the five substitutions per game. And no piece is left over when it comes to getting promoted is to keep even the ball boy plugged in the locker room.

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In addition, and against the sanbenito that meetings during the week They can annoy, mislead, harm, and that is why a Cup elimination could even be beneficial, if Espanyol had shown something this season it is that they suited him wonderfully. Has won them all, against Mirandés (2-0), Ponferradina (2-0), Zaragoza (2-0) and, of course, the two in the Copa del Rey against Llagostera (0-1) and Burgos (0-2).

Although to finish denying that stigma on the advisability of focusing on a single competition is the experience of last season. Without going further. Espanyol fell in the Cup against Real Sociedad (2-0) without offering any resistance and shamelessly threw the Europa League in Wolverhampton, with a blushing 4-0, without obtaining a single positive return in LaLiga. On the contrary, in that season section the grave of the descent was finished digging.

Today the coach is different and the mentality, at least the one shown in Second Division, is much more winning. But there comes the other great unknown, that of the medium-long term. In case of promotion – the alternative directly would be a catastrophe -, Espanyol runs the risk of falling into complacency, of believing that the same squad (Let's not talk about another worse one, if an offer comes in the summer, let's say for Raúl de Tomás) will be able to survive and succeed in First.

If something showed Sunday's commitment against Osasuna, full of homegrown rojillos and news, it is that the errors that in Second are compensated by talent in the highest category become almost certain defeats. That is, the same thing that happened last year. AND stumbling twice on the same stone is a luxury that Espanyol cannot afford. So this elimination, much more symptomatic than anecdotal and with many months ahead to meet the objective and to rebuild the next squad, can (should) become a beacon to guide the club into the future. Otherwise, once again, nothing has been learned.