Manolo dismissed after the umpteenth humiliation in the King's Cup

Barcelona"Espanyol has decided to put an end to Manolo González's tenure as head coach of the first team." With this sentence begins the statement from the blue-and-white club in which it officializes the dismissal of the Galician coach after losing on the pitch of Sestao River (4-3) and being eliminated from the Copa del Rey. For the third consecutive season, Espanyol fell on the field of a Second Federation team. Barbastro, Atlético Baleares, and this year Sestao River, in the last minute of extra time, have been the executioners of Manolo González, whom everyone considered doomed after the defeat on Saturday in Santander and who did not take advantage of the extra life they gave him on Tuesday.

And this despite the fact that, trying not to repeat the mistakes of the past in the Cup, the Galician came out to play with a fairly strong starting lineup. But the rain falling in Bilbao and the mud at Las Llanas, a quaint and small stadium in the north, one that breathes football from all four corners, equalized the strength between two teams separated by three categories. The inability of the periquitos made the footballing distance between the two even less evident.

The damned set piece

Marcos Fernández, starting in Roberto's place, gave the Galician side hope with an early goal from a penalty he forced himself. However, shortly after, an unfortunate slip by Hinojo allowed for a comfortable finish by Adri Carrión, who equalized. Just before halftime, Ugarte turned the score around with an uncontested header from a corner kick. Three days later, Espanyol let themselves be overtaken again; and once more, from a set piece.

In the second half, in a quagmire and against a rival more accustomed to competing on an impracticable pitch, the 'periquitos' were unable to find the way to goal... until the 90th minute. A debatable penalty on Edu Expósito allowed Roberto to score the equalizer that took the match into extra time.

It only served to prolong their coach's agony: Moscardo made it 2-3 and, two minutes later, Laka made it 3-3, once again from a set piece. In the final move of the match, in the 121st minute, Rojo scored the definitive 4-3 in an action where the 'periquitos' called for a foul on Dmitrovic. Immediately, the camera pointed at Manolo González. The face of the Galician coach was that of a resigned manager, who knew he was doomed after accumulating a third disaster in the Copa del Rey and having won only four matches in all of 2026.