From nothing to everything. Going to Cornellà-El Prat is, on too many occasions, an exercise in survival. Against Celta, the parakeet team ‘gave away’ many minutes to their fans for nothing, but few teams are capable of making your heart race as easily as the Blue and Whites. Darder’s changes of pace, RdT’s controls and, yesterday, Wu Lei’s goal are a clear example when the game was being soporific. The three-time Chinese Ballon d’Or winner (2018, 2019 and 2021) emerged to drive a stadium that was about to explode crazy. Patience has a limit and the Chinese striker pushed it away.
Release. How difficult it is to play at times and with a constant rumble every time you touch the ball. Hence, the goal signed by Wu Lei (his first of his this League) was a liberation. There is no better medicine than a goal and the Chinese striker got even. Holding him, angrily, said it all. As well as Vicente Moreno’s jump for joy at the final whistle, his embrace with Dani Pendín, Dani Pastor’s run down the sideline, with his arms raised. Espanyol, which already has 39 points, touches salvation with nine of the ten fingers on its hands. The +11 with respect to the descent allows the parakeet team to breathe a sigh of relief. And now a question comes to mind: ambition or apathy? The numbers at home, with 31 points, are from the Europa League. A data.
Response. A mirror to look at should be Sergi Darder. The midfielder is at a sweet moment in his career and ‘Darderism’ reverberates among Espanyol fans. What it supposes, implies and transmits. His individual action in the 36th minute, with a devilish drive and full of quality, his pursuit of the Celta players in the 76th minute to avoid a clear ball exit from behind and his assist on Wu Lei’s goal. Espanyol’s last three goals have come from his boots and he already has eight assists. He must be, without a doubt, the flag of the project for the next campaign. Let’s hope it doesn’t get to the point where the question that Edward Bloom (Ewan McGregor) was asking in Big Fish: “Have you thought that maybe it’s not that you’re too big, but that this town is too small?” He is the storyteller of this Espanyol.
situations. The duel against Celta left more than one spectator cold. More than 18,000 people came to the stadium, but the atmosphere was somewhat tense. Silence at times, despair at others, but in most of them there was tension. The referee signaled the break even a few seconds before reaching 45′ and that’s when timid whistles began to be heard. It did not seem that they were aiming at the grass, but a little more at the stands. to the box Wu Lei’s goal was able to save one of the match ball that Rufete, parakeet sports director, would be experiencing in his match against the stands. At the break, the “Rufete, go now” sounded, but after the first bars the music from the stadium silenced them. When the game ended, while the people marched home, the shouts against Rufete returned from the vomitories. But in short, a plebiscite that can be considered null.