The secrets of the League's most fashionable team

BarcelonaAt 7:30 on Saturday, May 24th, with half an hour left in the 2024-2025 La Liga season, Espanyol was in the Second Division. Finally, Puado and Pere Milla avoided a relegation that would have been traumatic for a club that, stripped of its star player, 115 days after that agonizing salvation has established itself in the Champions League zone and is the third classified in First with the same number of points as FC Barcelona. And this Saturday they visit Real Madrid (4:15 p.m., Movistar+) with the possibility of taking the lead if they attack the Bernabéu, where they haven't won in thirty years.

What has changed at Espanyol?

The capital increase carried out in June by Rastar, accompanied by the sale of Joan Garcia and the permanence in La Liga, cleaned up the finances of an Espanyol that had not invested in transfers for years and that faced the summer transfer window having reached the 1:1 rule of thefair play and with liquidated to sign, something essential to understand the blue and white success. The paradigm shift allowed Fran Garagarza to secure the continuity of Javi Puado, the project's cornerstone, and of Roberto, Urko González, and Carlos Romero, who were on loan. The Basque sporting director completed a notable transfer window with the signings of Terrats, Kike Garcia, Riedel, Salinas, Miguel Rubio, Koleosho, Dmitrovic and Tyrhis Dolan, one of the revelations of the start of the competition.

Of the newcomers, these last two are the only undisputed ones for a Manolo González who maintains the block from last season and now has a privileged squad. With better pieces, footballers in a state of grace like Pere Milla or Dolandinho, and a dressing room that is going all out for him, the Galician has more football records and has sublimated the proposal that kept him in First Division, and has built a rocky and uncomfortable block that when it runs forward it does so with all the faith and conviction in the world, and it is pure rock and roll. Ask Cholo Simeone or Jagoba Arrasate, who could not even overcome the Catalan resistance with one more player.

"Right now, Espanyol is flying," summed up the Blue and Whites' coach, who has been repeating the same idea like a mantra behind closed doors since the start of preseason: "You have to get used to winning." It's clear his message has resonated. He's the main reason for Espanyol's blistering start to the season, which has yet to lose and has ten points out of twelve.

Football is a state of mind.

He momentum Perico is told from a footballing perspective, but also from an emotional perspective. The blow to the fans caused by the resounding departure of the vilified Joan Garcia was softened by the renewal of Manolo González, Javi Puado and the signing of Terrats, the three blue and white icons. The fact of being undefeated in the preseason, the success of the new shirt and the sale of the club – with an NFL star Making Espanyol go viral in the United States with a beer in hand and an Alan Pace who in a matter of weeks, and still without the capacity to make decisions, has already seen more matches live than Chen Yansheng - have lifted the spirits of a social mass that was demanding a change of scene.

The registration of members and season ticket holders - more than 31,000 and 35,000, respectively - figures that have not been reached for more than a decade, confirm the hype with Espanyol; also the atmosphere that prevails week after week at the RCDE Stadium, which has become a "cauldron of chaos"—as JJ What dubbed it—where the Espanyol team has won nine of its matches.

Can Espanyol dream?

The question being asked is whether the blue and white team can maintain that pace throughout the season; that is, whether they can come close to what Girona achieved two seasons ago or, at the very least, aspire to Europe. The sensations and statistics suggest they can, but the group is urging caution. "We didn't imagine we'd get 10 out of 12 because we take it game by game. Let's not look any further ahead," said the Perico locker room. "I understand the excitement, but there's still a lot of La Liga left. We have to get to 42 points," Manolo González reaffirmed on Monday after the victory against Mallorca, the day Espanyol, on cloud nine, returned to a Champions League spot seven years later. That season ended with a historic Europa League qualification.