A March to put permanence on track or to prolong suffering

This March, Espanyol will only have to face three games, but they will surely be the most important of the season. The score you get before the next break of selections can be used to keep track of permanence (if it is full of victories it would be 38 points, which would mean virtual permanence in the absence of nine days) or to prolong a suffering that was unthinkable when it closed in 2021. The white-and-blues closed last year with a surprising comeback at Mestalla that put them four points behind Europe and ten from the descent.

But the change of year and the start of the second round did not go well for them: Espanyol is, with three points (the same as Granada), the second worst team in the League in 2022 .It only improves the Lightning, which has added one. If the Spaniards have been able to avoid looking down, so far it has been basically thanks to the first five months of competition, in which they got a comfortable enough cushion of points (26 of the total of 29 points they accumulate) so as not to have to suffer so far. The possibility of a new relegation to the Second Division may seem hasty when the team is just eight points behind the red zones, but the dynamics that drag the team, which has not won any of the last seven days – all disputed this 2022–, invites at least to be prudent. The sweeter and sour aftertaste of the draw against Barça and Sevilla has been overshadowed by the momentum of the team.

Three finals against direct rivals

As if the tension of the moment were not enough, the next three opponents (Getafe, Levante and Mallorca) are direct rivals in the fight to get away from the descent. A double-edged sword, taking into account both the benefits and the risks involved in dealing with it. They are sheep-faced rivals and wolf claws who, unlike the white-and-blues, have been watching the descent for weeks and want to run away anyway. Getafe have added 12 of the 24 points they have played in this second round, by 10 from Levante and 6 from Mallorca. Two of these three teams, by the way, already won the white-and-blues in the first round, while the Levante was close to achieving it after a crazy match in Cornellà-El Prat.

Being able to face two of these three finals in Cornellà-El Prat can be a small consolation for those of Vicente Moreno, who, far from his stadium, has only added seven points out of 39 possible. The Massanassa coach is experiencing a streak similar to the one suffered by Espanyol with Rubi between days 12 and 21 of the 2018-19 season. With Maresme they added three points out of 30. With Moreno, Espanyol has added six of the last 30 points. Coach and sporting director Rufete is on the lookout for the hurricane after the streak of results that drags the team.

The entity’s chief executive, José María Durán Farré, rushed Monday to make sure the team’s solution is at home, and ratified two figures who, if nothing serious happens, will continue until the end of the school year. . Only an extreme situation could lead Chen Yansheng, a more thoughtful than impulsive businessman, to resign from one of these two positions. Moreno ends his contract in June 2023, while Rufete has exactly three months left on his contract. Although the coach now has much more credit than the sporting director, the truth is that in the summer responsibilities will be cleared and probably bet on a change of stage in some estate the sports organization chart. It will all depend on what happens in the coming months of the league.