From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match31 Oct 2026
Nowhere to hide for Espanyol
1‑5 against Athletic Bilbao, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
At 35 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.58 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Market2 Nov 2026
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Espanyol heard it as anything else.
Match31 Oct 2026
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Espanyol and Athletic Bilbao, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Squad2 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of Urko González
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Boardroom2 Nov 2026
Nobody left the Espanyol dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Jofre Carreras 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.
Squad2 Nov 2026
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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
At 35 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 9.95 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Squad26 Oct 2026
3 goals in one afternoon from one man. The other players were also present, a witness confirmed.
Match24 Oct 2026
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Espanyol and Rayo Vallecano, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Squad26 Oct 2026
“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.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.11, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Pol Lozano runs at them all day
Successful dribbles: 17. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match24 Oct 2026
It needed Leandro Cabrera to find the net to bring anything home at all: 3‑3 against Rayo Vallecano, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
Squad26 Oct 2026
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Espanyol are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Words at Espanyol training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rubén Sánchez is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Leandro Cabrera, 35, rolls back the years — 8.45
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.45 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Squad19 Oct 2026
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Espanyol have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Match17 Oct 2026
Real Madrid left with the points after a 2‑3 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
One of those days for Javi Puado
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.63, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Jofre Carreras 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.
Squad19 Oct 2026
“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.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Nobody could get near Pere Milla
Successful dribbles: 16. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Shots: 8, not one of them in. A centre forward is paid for one thing, and on this evidence he has forgotten which thing it is.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
39 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
A defender's afternoon for Urko González
Defensive actions: 30. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
At 35 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 9.47 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
25 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Omar Sadik was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The terraces12 Oct 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Omar El Hilali has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Match10 Oct 2026
Real Sociedad made Espanyol work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Squad12 Oct 2026
At 24 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 4 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Words at Espanyol training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jofre Carreras is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad5 Oct 2026
There were 10 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Marko Dmitrović was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Rafel Bauzà is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Match3 Oct 2026
Valencia left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Ninety minutes of Pol Lozano at his very best
Marked 8.92. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Espanyol.
Squad5 Oct 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Jofre Carreras, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Two goals and a mark of 9.16 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Kike García, 36, rolls back the years — 8.72
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.72 at 36, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Squad28 Sep 2026
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.
Match26 Sep 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Pol Lozano. 3‑1 against Girona, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Words at Espanyol training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jofre Carreras is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Squad28 Sep 2026
At 24 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
Squad28 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Rubén Sánchez, and the manager let it.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
There was one mistake and it ended in the net. Defenders are judged on the worst thing they did rather than on the eighty-nine minutes either side of it, which is unfair and is also the job.
The terraces28 Sep 2026
Everybody has an opinion about Kike García
He is the name in every column and on every phone-in, which is a heavy thing to carry at any age. Some footballers thrive on it; others are quietly finished by it.
In brief
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Player ratings
The chances came and went for Javi Puado
-
Market
The Rafel Bauzà talk will not go away
-
The terraces
The press cannot get enough of Pere Milla
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad21 Sep 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Leandro Cabrera, 35, rolls back the years — 8.53
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.53 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Javi Puado in a row with a teammate
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.
Match19 Sep 2026
Atlético Madrid left with the points after a 2‑3 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad21 Sep 2026
The manager makes an example of Marko Dmitrović
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Ninety minutes of Tyrhys Dolan at his very best
Marked 8.71. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Espanyol.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Words at Espanyol training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Cristian Herrera is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The terraces21 Sep 2026
Everybody has an opinion about Marko Dmitrović
He is the name in every column and on every phone-in, which is a heavy thing to carry at any age. Some footballers thrive on it; others are quietly finished by it.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Javi Puado leaves them behind him
Shots: 7. Goals: none. The chances were there and they were good ones, and they went into the stand, the goalkeeper's arms and the side netting in roughly that order.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
33 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
33 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
Squad14 Sep 2026
There were 7 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Squad14 Sep 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Álex Calatrava commits to Espanyol for another 4 years.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Defensive actions: 21. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Squad14 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Kike García, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market7 Sep 2026
“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.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Nobody could get near Pere Milla
Successful dribbles: 16. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Rubén Sánchez 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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
A defender's mistake gets tidied up by somebody else; a goalkeeper's ends up in the net. He knew before the ball crossed the line, and so did everybody in the ground.
Squad7 Sep 2026
A place in the month's best eleven for Roger Hinojo
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Roger Hinojo has come out of that comparison in the side, and Espanyol have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
Match5 Sep 2026
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Two goals and a mark of 9.51 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Market31 Aug 2026
“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.
Market31 Aug 2026
So close: Pol Tristán’s move dies late
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Zaragoza moved on, Pol Tristán reports back to Espanyol, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
Match29 Aug 2026
Celta made Espanyol work for it, but the scoreboard read 3‑2 at the end and the table does not ask how.
The terraces31 Aug 2026
Espanyol supporters have found a favourite in Omar Sadik
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Omar Sadik has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 19. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Marked 8.56 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Clemens Riedel was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad31 Aug 2026
The manager has not finished forgetting Marko Dmitrović's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market24 Aug 2026
“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.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Omar Sadik in a row with a teammate
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.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Pere Milla runs at them all day
Successful dribbles: 19. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match22 Aug 2026
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Tyrhys Dolan 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.
Squad24 Aug 2026
“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.
Squad24 Aug 2026
The manager has not finished forgetting Kike García's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
The one thing Tyrhys Dolan could not do
Shots: 6, enough of them from close enough that a striker in form scores two. He is not a striker in form.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
The chances came and went for Kike García
12 shots, and a count that reads like a good afternoon until you check the other column. Strikers survive weeks like this on the understanding that the chances keep arriving; the day they stop is the day it becomes a problem.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market17 Aug 2026
Espanyol say no — this time
The offer from Real Sociedad for Pere Milla was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Market17 Aug 2026
The fee is $1.4M, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Estudiantes drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Rodrigo Borzone gets the move he always wanted
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Rodrigo Borzone has just signed for Espanyol, and for once the answer mattered.
Squad17 Aug 2026
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.
Boardroom17 Aug 2026
5 academy players handed senior numbers at Espanyol
The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.
Market17 Aug 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Sergio Ortega is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market17 Aug 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Izei Suárez is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Tyrhys Dolan gets it from the manager
“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.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Words at Espanyol training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rubén Sánchez is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market10 Aug 2026
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Javi Puado commits to Espanyol for another 4 years.
Squad10 Aug 2026
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.
Market10 Aug 2026
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Espanyol heard it as anything else.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“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.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Words at Espanyol training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jofre Carreras is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market3 Aug 2026
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Espanyol heard it as anything else.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Omar El Hilali and Espanyol agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Javi Puado in a row with a teammate
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.
Market3 Aug 2026
The name of Antoniu Roca has come up in conversations Espanyol were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Tyrhys Dolan 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.
Market3 Aug 2026
Still no offer on the table, and Omar El Hilali’s deal keeps shrinking. In boardroom language, silence this long stops being an oversight and starts being an answer.