RCD Espanyol - A New Beginning For Barcelona's 'other' Team
http://www.articlesweekly.com/articles/39998/1/RCD-Espanyol---A-New-Beginning-For-Barcelonas-other-Team/Page1.html
Steven Yates
For information on Manchester United fixtures and other football packages see Football Ticket Packages. By Steven Yates
Published on August 21st, 2009
Anyone who went to the Olympic Stadium to watch RCD Espanyol in action will be really pleased that the new Cornellà-El Prat stadium is ready for the upcoming season If ever a place lacked atmosphere, it was the famous and beautifully located home of Espanyol, since 1997
Anyone who went to the Olympic Stadium to watch RCD Espanyol in action will be really pleased that the new Cornellà-El Prat stadium is ready for the upcoming season. If ever a place lacked atmosphere, it was the famous and beautifully located home of Espanyol, since 1997. It might have been situated on the glorious slopes of Montjuic, but it was still almost always half empty and sensible fans took their binoculars with them if they wanted to identify the players properly.
But now, the officially recognised 'Elite' stadium, with a capacity of slightly over 40,000 fans in their team coloured blue and white seats, will provide the long-suffering blanquiazules a home venue of which they can feel justifiably proud.
It was so nearly very different, though. With most of the season gone, it looked to all the world as if Espanyol would be beginning their bright new dawn in Spain’s Second Division, so far were they adrift of safety. That they survived was largely down to the efforts of two mean and a black virgin.
The first of the two men was the cult figure of the team, star striker Raul Tamudo – at the club since 1997 and a forlorn, injured player for most of the year. His return helped galvanise the team when all really did look hopeless for them and he absolutely cemented his place in the history books by scoring all the goals in a 3 – 0 victory over Malaga which ensured top-flight football at the new stadium.
The other man who can claim to be instrumental in Espanyol’s survival was a player once but later became the club’s president, Mauricio Pochettino. With the club needing a miracle, that’s what the president asked for; walking all the way to the legendary Montserrat monastery in the strangely-shaped mountains above Barcelona to pray for the intervention of La Morenata, the Black Virgin. From that moment on, Espanyol played like a team who believed they could survive – and they did, on the last day of the season.
And so, RCD Espanyol – who once defeated Real Madrid by eight goals to one and who, as recently as 2007, were losing a penalty shoot out against Sevilla in the UEFA Cup final – can look forward to trying to compete against their fierce local Catalan rivals next year.
The rivalry with Barcelona, of course, always seems fiercer to the Espanyol supporters than to the Barcelona fans, who tend to be rather dismissive of their local neighbours. Since their formation in 1900, Espanyol have had to suffer the ‘second team in the city’ tag – winning the Copa del Rey four times being their only major trophy winning achievements. They can claim, however, that one of Spain’s greatest ever keepers, the illustrious Ricardo Zamora, began his career at the club. And also – what will undoubtedly be talked about for many years by the aficionados – in the year that Barcelona won the much heralded ‘triplet’ of La Liga, Copa del Rey and Champions’ League, they were beaten 2 – 0 in the Camp Nou by Espanyol.
It was a brave decision for Espanyol to commit most of their finances into the building of their new stadium and the team clearly struggled because of the lack of finances available for investment in players. Let’s hope that now the stadium is finished and ready for action, the team can progress and do the new ground justice – with or without the Black Virgin’s help.
But now, the officially recognised 'Elite' stadium, with a capacity of slightly over 40,000 fans in their team coloured blue and white seats, will provide the long-suffering blanquiazules a home venue of which they can feel justifiably proud.
It was so nearly very different, though. With most of the season gone, it looked to all the world as if Espanyol would be beginning their bright new dawn in Spain’s Second Division, so far were they adrift of safety. That they survived was largely down to the efforts of two mean and a black virgin.
The first of the two men was the cult figure of the team, star striker Raul Tamudo – at the club since 1997 and a forlorn, injured player for most of the year. His return helped galvanise the team when all really did look hopeless for them and he absolutely cemented his place in the history books by scoring all the goals in a 3 – 0 victory over Malaga which ensured top-flight football at the new stadium.
The other man who can claim to be instrumental in Espanyol’s survival was a player once but later became the club’s president, Mauricio Pochettino. With the club needing a miracle, that’s what the president asked for; walking all the way to the legendary Montserrat monastery in the strangely-shaped mountains above Barcelona to pray for the intervention of La Morenata, the Black Virgin. From that moment on, Espanyol played like a team who believed they could survive – and they did, on the last day of the season.
And so, RCD Espanyol – who once defeated Real Madrid by eight goals to one and who, as recently as 2007, were losing a penalty shoot out against Sevilla in the UEFA Cup final – can look forward to trying to compete against their fierce local Catalan rivals next year.
The rivalry with Barcelona, of course, always seems fiercer to the Espanyol supporters than to the Barcelona fans, who tend to be rather dismissive of their local neighbours. Since their formation in 1900, Espanyol have had to suffer the ‘second team in the city’ tag – winning the Copa del Rey four times being their only major trophy winning achievements. They can claim, however, that one of Spain’s greatest ever keepers, the illustrious Ricardo Zamora, began his career at the club. And also – what will undoubtedly be talked about for many years by the aficionados – in the year that Barcelona won the much heralded ‘triplet’ of La Liga, Copa del Rey and Champions’ League, they were beaten 2 – 0 in the Camp Nou by Espanyol.
It was a brave decision for Espanyol to commit most of their finances into the building of their new stadium and the team clearly struggled because of the lack of finances available for investment in players. Let’s hope that now the stadium is finished and ready for action, the team can progress and do the new ground justice – with or without the Black Virgin’s help.