LSecond Division is always a tight category in which the objectives are not achieved until the last week. It is rare that the fight for direct promotion or relegation is resolved several days in advance. Espanyol and Mallorca raised the bar last season and did not have to wait until the end to seal their return to the First Division. Both Catalans and vermilion were far superior to the rest of the rivals and did not give anyone an option in the fight for direct promotion.
The battle to achieve one of the two tickets that grant the pass to the highest category without the need to dispute the playoff has more candidates this course. Eibar, Almería, Valladolid and Tenerife aspire to get on the first train that takes you to the highest category. And everything indicates that the final result will not be known until well into the month of May. However, the brutal bar that Espanyol and Mallorca set last year is being maintained by Gaizka Garitano’s Eibar.
The leader exhibited his punch against Burgos…
Because the armory set has 59 points, the same that Mallorca added last season at this point, and four more than Espanyol had (55 points). A clear sign that the fight for promotion maintains the demand and is as expensive as it was 12 months ago, with the only difference that now there are more teams with the capacity to approach the score achieved last year by the two clubs that managed to ascend to the First Division by the fastest route.
It’s going to take a high score to climb and that requires you to win every week; if we want to continue as we are we will have to win continuously
Rubi pointed out a couple of weeks ago that direct promotion was going to happen by adding more than 80 points. Garitano followed the same line as the Almería coach last Sunday. “It will take a very high score to go up and that requires you to win every week. If we want to continue as we are we will have to win continuously, because the other teams are also like airplanes”.
Espanyol and Mallorca finished the course tied on 82 points. There are still 39 points at stake in the 13 days remaining to finish the course, but the accounts go through reaching the figure of 80 points to have sufficient guarantees of achieving ticket promotion.
