Marked for Alejandro León
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market14 Mar 2033
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Espanyol is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad14 Mar 2033
A row about effort at Espanyol
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Clemens Riedel was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom14 Mar 2033
Still nobody in the Espanyol dugout
13 days with the chair empty, a list of names that grows and shrinks by the day, and not one signature on anything. Every week that passes takes the best candidates off it.
Match12 Mar 2033
At last: Espanyol win one
5 matches without a win, and then this, against Las Palmas. Relief is a strange noise in a football ground and it was the only noise at the end.
Market14 Mar 2033
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Nicolás Montes has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Market14 Mar 2033
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Jan Ríos has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Market14 Mar 2033
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Jorge Ramos has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Match12 Mar 2033
Three points for Espanyol, 1‑0 the final word against Las Palmas in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Player ratings14 Mar 2033
Thiago Fernández was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.06. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad17 Jan 2033
9 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Market17 Jan 2033
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Espanyol, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market17 Jan 2033
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Juventud Torremolinos waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Espanyol is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Market17 Jan 2033
Kostadin Iliev has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Espanyol they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad17 Jan 2033
A row about effort at Espanyol
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Clemens Riedel was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match15 Jan 2033
Espanyol cannot find the net
3 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Transfer targets17 Jan 2033
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Porto have kept their man, and Espanyol go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad17 Jan 2033
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Espanyol this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match15 Jan 2033
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match14 Dec 2032
The longest week starts now for Espanyol
Beaten 0‑2 by Barcelona in the one fixture that is never just a fixture. Work, school, the corner shop — there will be no getting away from this one.
Squad20 Dec 2032
12 saves: Daniel Mina was the team
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 12 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Match18 Dec 2032
No end in sight to Espanyol's wait for a win
6 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Espanyol has to find a result from somewhere.
Market20 Dec 2032
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Espanyol is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad20 Dec 2032
A row about effort at Espanyol
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Clemens Riedel was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match18 Dec 2032
Atlético Madrid left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout20 Dec 2032
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Squad20 Dec 2032
Words exchanged at Espanyol
Guilherme Ramos and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad20 Dec 2032
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Alejandro León and Espanyol agree another 4 years.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match8 Dec 2032
The small margins put Espanyol out
Out, 2‑2 to Real Sociedad, and the long argument about which of the small moments decided it. The league is all there is now, and everybody knows it.
Market13 Dec 2032
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad13 Dec 2032
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Market13 Dec 2032
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Espanyol is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Match8 Dec 2032
The wait goes on for Espanyol
4 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Squad13 Dec 2032
A row about effort at Espanyol
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Clemens Riedel was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Looking ahead13 Dec 2032
The neighbours are next for Espanyol
Nothing about the week ahead is ordinary. Barcelona on Saturday, a town that has already started talking about it, and a dressing room that does not need telling what it means.
Match8 Dec 2032
A goal on 114 minutes turned three points into one and a good afternoon into an argument about game management that will run until Saturday.
Player ratings13 Dec 2032
It was his to settle and he did not settle it. A long walk back to the halfway line, and a considerably longer week.
In brief
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Player ratings
Nobody could get near Roberto Cruz
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Squad
A falling-out at Espanyol
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The dugout
The manager’s verdict
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match27 Oct 2032
Espanyol march on in the cup
Deportivo La Coruña are out and Espanyol go through, 2‑0 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.
Player ratings1 Nov 2032
What a way to start for Alejandro León — 7.49
0 on the scoresheet on his first appearance and a mark of 7.49 beside it. Most debuts are got through; this one was enjoyed, by him and by everybody watching it.
Squad1 Nov 2032
6 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Player ratings1 Nov 2032
Roberto Cruz, 21, steals the show — 7.73
Marked 7.73 at 21, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Market1 Nov 2032
Biel Reyes has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Espanyol they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad1 Nov 2032
Clemens Riedel falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The terraces1 Nov 2032
He is 20 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Match30 Oct 2032
0‑1 to Villarreal, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad1 Nov 2032
200 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.