From a view at the RCDE Stadium we are looking at the past, present and future of the club from Barcelona, living a life in the shadows of their grand neighbour.
Despite being a minor compared to FC Barcelona, they are still one club to count being the winner of Copa Del Rey four times, lifting the trophy last in 2006. They reached the UEFA Cup final in 1988 and 2007.
A 40 000 seater stadium shows grand amibtions and for the top games you will seee a full house, but in their last home game vs. Villareal only 17 400 was inside.
Former Stoke and Newcastle forward Juselu is one star player. He joined from Alaves in front of the season as the 32 year old has scored 7 goals in 13 games. Another very important player is vice captain Sergi Darder. The midfielder has earlier been with Malaga and Lyon.
Not to forget Martin Braithwaite as the former FC Barcelona player made the switch of hte city in front of this season. He is currently in World Cup action for Denmark and of course fantastic for the club to have such a representative.
Goalkeeper Benjamin Lecomte is an important man, so is Jose Mato as the two are rated, “very important”. Going back in time you will find names such as Mauricio Pochettino, who also were the manager at this club before moving to Southampton in 2013, being in charge from 2009 to 2012. Pochettino also played for Espanyol as his only Spanish club being here from 1989 to 1994, and returning for a period from 2004 to 2006.
Thomas N’Kono who you may remember as a goalkeeper for Cameroon in three World Cup’s bringing to mind a number of fantastic saves. N’Kono played for Espanyol from 1982 to 1990, adding up 272 league appearances, he was capped 90 times and among a group of special World Cup goalkeepers.
Miquel Soler must be mentioned as he is the only player to have appeared for Real Madrid, Atletico Madrid, Barcelona and Espanyol. His football career started at Espanyol playing here from 1983 to 1988.
Their manager is Diego Martinez, who joined in May this year. Joining from Osasuna, with a previous life in charge of different Sevilla teams and also being the assistant manager at A man with good management experience from other clubs such as Osasuna and Grenada.
We will keep an eye on Espanyol that really belongs in the top tier of Spanish football as they will return to action after the Qatar World Cup, first game up in La Liga is FC Barcelona, a few days earlier Espanyol will take on Atletico Pasa in Copa Del Rey
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