The Unionistas de Salamanca Club de Fútbol, a Primera RFEF rival that faced FC Barcelona in the round of 16 of the Copa del Rey, is a very peculiar and special club from the day it was foundedjust over a decade ago.
The origins
Above all, it stands out for its popular and even romantic character, as it is managed democratically by its own partners. As a result of the disappearance of the legendary UD Salamanca (12 seasons in the First Division), on August 26, 2013 it was founded as a tribute to the UDS and in contrast to Salmantino, which occupied the place of the subsidiary of the defunct club from the Charro capital. and which currently has the name of Salamanca CF UDS.
The stadium
Since the latter is the official club that, among other things, acquired the right to play in the Helmántico stadium, and with which there is a rivalry that goes beyond sports, the Unionistas began to play their games on the adjacent courts and that is where It hosted Real Madrid in the Copa del Rey in August 2020. Currently, it plays at the Reina Sofía, a municipal stadium with capacity for nearly 5,000 spectators.
In the last tie against Villarreal, a power outage led to the postponement of the match, which resumed this Monday and in which the Castilian-Leonese went through on penalties. Two extra stands were installed to reach the record of 5,710 spectators, but the electrical installation was not enough.
The visit of Barça guarantees another guaranteed full house and the club must work to ensure that this incident does not happen again, since the fact of playing the tie during the week (January 16, 17 or 18) makes it impossible, in principle, to play with light solar.
This is how Unionistas celebrated their historic passage to the round of 16 of the Copa del Rey / EFE
Solidarity that crosses borders
The Unionistas, as a club with a markedly popular character, also places special emphasis on solidarity actions. The last of them was to take, through a partner, team t-shirts to schools in Akurenam, a town in Equatorial Guinea 6,000 kilometers from Salamanca.
The team and the precedent with Barça Atlètic
Unionistas, which started from the bottom when it was founded – the fourth provincial division – and climbed the ranks through promotions, plays in Group 1 of the Primera RFEF, the same one in which Barça Atlètic is included.
Precisely, it was only five days ago, on January 3, that the Salamanca team, coached by the Valencian Dani Ponz, visited the Estadi Johan Cruyff in a league match and caused the surprise by beating the Barça reserve team by 0-2, so the Rafa Márquez’s knowledge about that center can now serve Xavi Hernández very well.
The charro team was solid in defense and very effective and fast on the counterattack in attack. Slavy, who opened the scoring from a set piece and who plays on loan from Real Valladolid, is their top league scorer, with 4 goals.
Jordi Tur, the ex-Azulgrana in Unionistas
In the ranks of Unionistas, a former Barça player plays, the 25-year-old midfielder Jordi Tur, who arrived at Barça’s Juvenil B in 2014, although he did not manage to make the jump to the reserve team and later went through Cádiz, Córdoba and Numancia before arriving, this same one. season, in the blue and white club.
Generation partner of Mingueza, Aleñá and Cucurella, among others, he is a starter and played 90 minutes at Johan Cruyff, although the Copa del Rey did not have minutes against Gernika (0-2), he was a starter and was substituted at half-time against Sporting of Gijón (2-0) and has played the last 28 minutes of the clash against Villarreal (8-7, penalties), the three rivals that Unionistas have left behind, who now want to make a splash against the King of Cups.
2024-01-08 19:56:05
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