With football paralyzed across the country, in Second B there are still a handful of teams dreaming of. These are Castellón, Cornellà, Barça B and Sabadell, who will play the final round of the Málaga tomorrow. play-off of promotion to Second A. Two teams will get the prize and in the last fight there will be three Girona players looking to make the leap to the silver category: Alfredo Gutiérrez (Castellón), Ferran Sarsanedas (Barça B) and Àngel Martínez (Sabadell ).
To reach the grand final, he had to sweat. All four teams are part of the third group of Second B and only this fact already shows the competitiveness that exists in the category. Girona midfielder Àngel Martínez, 34, has the most minutes. The Sabadell captain has played more than 1,800 minutes this season and, although he could miss the game due to a penalty – the club has been shown a red card – he hopes to play against Barça B (8pm, in Marbella), after to eliminate Atlético de Madrid B (1-1) and Cultural Leonesa (2-2) of the former Peralada-Girona B, Eric Montes, in the penalty shootout. Especially last Thursday, it was “heart attack.” And it is that Sabadell’s passage to the final was not sealed until the last moment when, face to face or cross, goalkeeper Ian Mackay dressed as a hero with two stops. Angel was sent off in overtime to protest from the bench.
“We hardly slept. It has been two games with a lot of physical wear and tear, but we recover every day to get well. Against Cultural we knew it would be difficult because it is a very big team with a high budget and level players, although we didn’t think it would be that much. Sabadell never lowered their arms and we got a draw in extremis to go to a batch of heart attack penalties. Going this way, with so much suffering, has an added value “, says Ángel. The Girona native landed at Sabadell in the summer of 2017 after spending a season in England (Blackpool, Milwall and Chesterfield) and had previously had experience in the Second Division at the hands of Girona and Rayo Vallecano. From 2006 to 2009 he played for Espanyol, where he tasted the First Division. His next challenge is to win the Barça subsidiary on Sunday: “We are only one game away from Segunda. We have little time but we take advantage of every minute. Illusion can do more than any physical pain because we are one step away from fighting for a dream. “I was kicked out unfairly because my words were‘ touch ball ’. Losing the final all the way we did would be a tough stick, ”he says.
For his part, Sarsanedas, 23, has not been so lucky this season. Amer has only been able to play 419 minutes due to a meniscus injury and is missing play-off because it continues to recover. Those of García Pimienta reach the final beating Valladolid Promesas with a victory (3-2) and Badajoz (1-1) on penalties with one hundred percent effectiveness.
This year there is a Catalan plenary in the play-off, although the other protagonist of Girona’s lands must be sought in Castellón. Alfredo Gutíerrez, 22, from Garrotxa, has appeared with a dropper this season and has only played 236 minutes, all of them as a substitute. Despite losing the first final to move up to Second A, which took Logroñés, the footballer from Olot entered in the 64th minute to unbalance the victory against Peña Deportiva (1-0) that allowed Castellón to access in his second final against Cornellà (22.00 hours, in La Rosaleda).
Cornellà can make history
On the other hand, Cornellà has two former Llagostera players such as Eloy Gila and Leo Ramírez and the former Olot striker, Iván Guzmán. The Baix Llobregat team is just one game away from going up to Second A for the first time in its history, after beating Atlético Baleares (0-1) and Ibiza (1-2).
.
