Espanyol has just returned to heaven after a little year in Second. A feat that, with financial aid, has been simplified but was never easy. Ten voices analyze it in MARCA
ANDl point added to The Romareda it was enough for him Spanish retrieve the category. After a traumatic descent last year, the same one in which the parakeets showed their faces for Europe, the Catalans have again taken the elevator to return to their rightful place.
They are specialists in escaping the flames of hell: with that of this 2021 it is already the fifth time they go down and up in the same season. Also, it so happens that Majorca I could follow in their footsteps. Something that has only happened twice in the last 30 years.
“And now going down is not the same as before, where there was no help for relegation. Now you can go to Second and have almost the same team as in First, as is the case of the parakeets who have retained Raúl de Tomás and Darder. The second year you still have help and in the third year it is equal, “he remembers Jorge Lopez, Galactic signing of Villarreal in 1999 to return to First.
This aid to relegation, which serves to give stability to the clubs, seems “somewhat unfair” to Cesar Caneda. “I understand the reason, but it takes away equality because a team that has just risen from 2nd B has an infinitely lower budget than the one that has just dropped from First and thus is much more difficult because they retain players who are left over in 2nd,” says someone who managed this feat with Sevilla and Racing.
“Although neither before nor now is it entirely simple. You play it all in one year, the anxiety of always having to win sometimes drowns you,” recalls the veteran footballer, who at 42 this year has achieved another promotion to the new 1st RFEF with SD Logroñés.
Another who did it with two clubs was Martin Vellisca. “You need a period of adaptation because the rhythm is different. Its suffers because you are the favorite and everyone is going for you. I have lived it as a favorite and as a covered, being a recently promoted with the Salamanca de Lillo, it dont have any relation to. When you are the great candidate they play you as if you were Madrid or Barça, everyone has the opportunity to show off to you “, says someone who went up with Zaragoza and Salamanca.
You need a period of adaptation because the rhythm is different. Su suffers because you are the favorite and everyone is going for you “
Looks are deceiving
“When you go down, that in those moments it hurts more for the club and the people than for yourself, you think that everything is going to be easier. It is not like that. We went down from First and got into positions of 2ndB. It was very hard to Despite the fact that almost all the great players stayed. Luckily, the change of coach was good for us. Setien and lifted us up. But it is not easy to go from being the tail of a lion to the head of a mouse. Each category has its little cocks, but if you don’t adapt, you die because everyone is going for you. All in all, I think that now it is easier to achieve it during the first year because they receive a lump in aid “, recalls a Seven who pressed the elevator to go up with him Racing in 2001-02.
“The hardest thing is to change your mentality. We had a lot of First Class people and even international ones, but until we assimilated where we were we couldn’t turn the situation around. The Second is more difficult to play because it is more aggressive. The First is the best, but the one that is most difficult for you to adapt is the silver one because it is very long and there are a lot of teams, “he recalls Javi guerrero, which bathed Santander in gold based on goals.
“They are radical changes and you have to know how to work with. Only those who accept this will be able to take advantage of the situation and therefore be able to reconvert it,” explains the sports psychologist Lorena Cos.
One of the most painful cases was that of Celta, who went to hell in 2004 after having played the Champions League. “We were not used to playing so much competition and that affected. But the club decided to continue with important players, made good signings and it was achieved. But to go up you have to have a very bad time, you suffer. You also have the pressure that, if you don’t go up that year, then you can be down there for many years. Your money is running out, you can’t sign important people and goodbye. The one year old in hell, the Atleti campaign, is something that anyone would sign. But it is very complicated, that they tell them if not. If you take a long time to do it, the damage can be irreparable “, recalls the Celtic Jose Ignacio.
Know it well Manel, that went up to CD Logroñés in ’96. “We scored a lot of goals and we played great. But that team experienced both cases. The first time he got off and returned fast because he was successful in the sports area, mixing young people with experienced people who continued to maintain the illusion. But then he dropped and, after three bad years, he fell to 2ªB and then disappeared. If you don’t go up that year you can die and disappear. “
The drama of Zaragoza
A history that knows what it is to penalize in Second after many years in the elite is Zaragoza. The last time he had his crumb. “Nobody expected us to go down and there we were. It took us a lot to catch the rhythm, we started down. If you are a star and do not conform, it can take its toll on you. For me it was a dream to be able to help the team,” says the goalkeeper. Miguel Martinez.
However, Zaragoza continues to fight almost closer to Pro than to First. “It is a long way. There comes a time when you are one of the most economical, you have to get used to and reinvent yourself to get out of there“, Add.
Precisely in the 1st RFEF will play Dépor, in whose last promotion after coming down from First he was Borja Fernádez: “Until January we did not become leaders. And then we beat the points record. The one who adapts before, wins.”
Know how to suffer
“The goal of all the teams that go down is to come back as soon as possible, we all like good things. When you have tasted the honeys of success that is a bit intoxicating and difficult to digest. Those who are lucky enough to have people who know endure difficult moments, which always come, end up having a higher percentage of success “, he adds Manel, who enjoys seeing their exes return to LaLiga Santander.
“They have had a spectacular year knowing how to fit into the new category. They deserved it, but they have had it ‘easier’ than years ago.” At least for them, in their hell, it wasn’t that hot.
