fatal carom cruel end Hard denouement. Perverse sentence. macabre fate A bucket of cold water in the 93rd minute. A farewell when the goal was closer. Come back and get your head out with a decent performance to end up sunk, with nothing at stake. To win and survive to lose the category. Espanyol went from having permanence in hand, to officially being a Segona team in Mestalla, without having to wait for the last day. The victories of Getafe and Cadiz made the 2-2 unusable.
The white-and-blues won, but a goal from Valencia sent them to Second. Enduring the result gave them life, held them to a last chance and even made them depend on themselves. And so it was for much of the second half after goals from Montes and Braithwaite. Espanyol defended itself, fought, fought and left its skin behind. But Samuel Lino’s goal doomed him in the final stretch.
Óscar Gil collapsed and knelt down. Joselu was biting his shirt. Darder didn’t even have the strength to greet the 1,000 parakeet fans and burst into tears. Braithwaite, his arms in a jug, didn’t know where to look. Montes watched the sky in search of answers. And Cabrera was petrified. Luis GarcÃa quickly got into the dressing room. They were all the picture of heartbreak.
A glance at the team chosen by Luis GarcÃa was enough to ensure that the work had been done late, that in January the squad had to be corrected in key positions. In the Mestalla final there were three winter signings (Pacheco, César Montes and Denis Suárez) for only two from the summer: Joselu and Brian Oliván. The reinforcements arrived too late.
The Asturian coach surprised by returning to the central three scheme that had given him such a bad result in the derby against Barça. And the problem that was seen then was repeated: it was very difficult for Espanyol to have the ball. Unable to defend with the ball, Valencia stepped into the area with ease.
Already in the first minute it was seen that Darder, as a pivot, could not stop Almeida and had to foul him. It was just the first of many bad decisions. Denis Suárez and Puado dribbled in thorny areas and lost the ball, Kluivert ran down Óscar Gil on the run to steal his wallet and Montes saw an unnecessary yellow card for kicking Lato.
They did not need the presence of the 1,600 fans who fit in the closed Kempes stand, which served the first of its three match suspensions for racist insults to VinÃcius. “Respect for our fans. Up Valencia”, read a banner in the closed area. They didn’t need them because Javi Guerra and Diego López ruled the field. It is absurd that both have spent more than half a season playing in the Second RFEF.
Espanyol did not go past midfield and Valencia flirted with the goal until they got it, because Pacheco practically gave it away. The goalkeeper missed a one-handed clearance and the ball ended up at the feet of Diego López, who scored into an empty net.
Incredibly, the goal was the spark that Espanyol needed, a team that doesn’t react if it doesn’t see itself against the ropes. The three-way tie after losing 0-3 against Atlético is the most extreme example. In other words, seeing yourself below was the fuse that ignited the pride and self-love that was driving the white-and-blues in this final stretch. In the following play, Brian Oliván crossed and César Montes headed in to equalize. The Mexican already opened the way to the tie with the mattress players and this time he calmed down to go to the break.
In the dugout, Luis GarcÃa realized that he had to take a step forward and also take advantage of Valencia’s nervousness. Braithwaite’s entry acted as a switch and the Dane found the goal from another gift from Mamardashvili. The Dane was recovering from a game that had started badly, that he put on a lot of face, but that twisted cruelly at the end.
The referee even disallowed Montes’ third for a foul on the goalkeeper in the jump. And when Espanyol was closer to victory, when it almost had it, in the 93rd minute Lino found himself alone in front and unleashed an unstoppable shot for Pacheco that caused the fatal carom that sent Espanyol in Second in the last sigh. More cruel, impossible. For the second time under Chen’s ownership, the club goes to hell.
