The Valencia coaching staff that triumphed at Elche

The Valencia coaching staff He is preparing today for tomorrow’s game with the sole objective of beating Elche and placing his team in the wake of the teams that occupy European places. But nevertheless, having the franjiverde team in front of you will always be special for a large part of the members of the staff that: José Bordalás, Javier Vidal, physical trainer; Patri Moreno, second coach; Y Edu Albacar, assistant coach, defended the colors of the Elche team with greater or lesser success.

The first technician Valencianist, José Bordalás, signed for Elche after matchday 6 of the 2009-10 season, in the Second Division. There they started two and a half seasons of successes and also disappointments. Next to his inseparable Javier Vidal, they caught a team that had started the season with just four points out of a possible 18 and occupied the penultimate position of the table. With hardly any renowned reinforcements, Elche with Bordalás he added 63 points and finished sixth. In that season there was still no playoff and only the first three classified were promoted to First.

However, in that season, Bordalás left the legacy of resurrecting Jorge Molina, what was top scorer in the category with 26 goals (He was not wearing any when Bordalás arrived), which earned him signing for Betis and becoming the most expensive transfer in the history of Elche. In addition, he left for the memory several games at Martínez Valero, What a derby where he knocked down a Hercules (2-0) who was leading and a last match against Real Sociedad (4-1) with Molina’s poker. That season, the current second coach of Valencia, Patri Moreno, was booked in the January market and He contributed to the improvement of the team with 13 games played in the second round.

The following campaign, the 2010-11, it was the best of Bordalás and Vidal in Elche. The team had an excellent season finishing fourth in the regular league. In the playoff defeated Valladolid in the first round, one of the favorites, and in the final was defeated by Granada, in a controversial, rough and historic match, where the referee annulled a legal goal to Pelegrín that would have meant promotion. Had the VAR existed then, Bordalás would have reached the First Division much earlier. In the course 2011-12, Bordalás was fired in Aprill, after matchday 33, with Elche just four points from the playoff. The franjiverdes finished 15 points behind the target. After the dismissal, Bordalás and Elche ended up in court since the settlement was not paid.

Edu Albacar, defense scorer in history

Special mention deserves for the franjiverde fans Bordalás’ now assistant coach at Valencia, Edu Albacar. The tarraconense is one of the most important footballers in the recent history of the French-green entity. It came precisely from the hand of Bordalás in the 2010-11 season, that of the near-promotion against Granada. Two seasons later, already with Fran Escribá, He was captain and one of the mainstays (8 goals) of an Elche that swept the category and was promoted to First. Regular starter for the next two seasons in First He retired after a serious injury at the end of the 2014-15 academic year to enlist as technical secretary. A season later He left the office and returned to the fields in Second, already with a more secondary role. In 2017-18 he retired permanently after achieving another promotion, this from Second B to Second. He is currently the highest-scoring defender in franjiverde history, with 25 goals scored from the left side in First, Second and Second B.