The cross of Espanyol and the seven key days of Manolo González

BarcelonaEspanyol cannot lift its head. Since the season began, it has only won two League matches, the last one on Osasuna's field, almost a month and a half ago. The defeats against Rayo Vallecano and Elche, the latter especially painful because the parakeets played the entire match with an extra man, set off alarm bells at the white-and-blue club. Monchi maintained his confidence in Manolo González, who survived the international break, but is back in the eye of the storm after drawing in Málaga, on the last-placed team's field, and losing against Atlético de Madrid at home.

The nightmare of the final minutes

The last two stumbles have a common denominator: the rival goal arrived beyond the 90th minute. In other words, recently Espanyol has lost four points in stoppage time. If they had held the result, they would now have 12 instead of 8 and would be seventh, hovering around the European positions. There would be no debate around a Manolo González who is being condemned by his team's inability in the final minutes.

This season, Real Madrid and Sevilla also took points from the 'periquitos' in the final moments, an evil they have been dragging since the previous season and which almost ran them over: the goals conceded in Vallecas, in the 87th minute, and at the Sánchez-Pizjuán, in the 92nd, greatly complicated the survival of the blue-and-whites, who ended up saving themselves on the penultimate matchday after going 18 consecutive games without winning.

Espanyol currently does not occupy relegation positions and Manolo, who has never been dismissed and who since his arrival at the first team has lived with the doubts of the environment, considers that “the situation is by no means tragic”. Even so, the disastrous final stretch of last season weighs like a slab on the back of its coach. When he arrived, last May, Monchi saved his neck, aware that, despite the calamitous dynamic of results, the footballers supported him and his message still reached them. Espanyol remained in the First Division, but did not make a clean slate.

A black year and a decisive week

There are only four victories and 21 points out of 90 that the blue-and-white team has achieved this 2026, the annus horribilis of a team that finished 2025 thinking about the Champions League and with Manolo as one of the trendy coaches in the League. Ten months later, the numbers are clear and the feelings even worse. No matter how hard he tries, the Galician cannot find a way to turn the situation around, even though he has recently changed the system and even the goalkeeper. It has not been enough to win again and dispel the doubts. And now he faces seven days that could mark his future on the bench.

Three matches in one week, all three away from home, could seal his fate. The first is this Saturday (4:15 PM, DAZN) at El Sardinero against Racing de Santander, a direct rival in the fight against relegation. Six days later he will face Villarreal, a Champions League team in a slump – currently, it only has one point more than Espanyol. In between, he will visit Sestao River in the Copa del Rey, a thorn in the side of the coach from Folgoso do Courel, who still has the confidence of his players. “We are with Manolo to the death,” declared Javi Puado and Leandro Cabrera, captains and heavyweights of the dressing room, in recent hours.

Historically, the Copa del Rey, the only major title the club has raised, has excited the blue-and-white faithful, disappointed by the last two participations. Last year, Espanyol was eliminated at the home of Atlético Baleares and relived the horror movie from two seasons ago in Barbastro, also with Manolo González on the bench. Like Sestao River, both clubs competed in the Segunda RFEF, the fourth category of national football.

A third defeat, combined with poor results in the League, could be definitive for a coach who led Espanyol to promotion and, without great squads, has kept it in the First Division for two years. With more than 100 matches on the bench, he is already one of the three longest-serving 'periquito' coaches of the 21st century, but he carries a burden that threatens to seal his fate if he does not take flight urgently.