Espanyol overachieve in the Primera Liga despite their limitations

Andy Mitten explains why the disillusioned supporters of the Barcelona club should return.

Espanyol have done well despite selling their top players and playing in front of a half-empty stadium. Juan Manuel Serrano Arce / Getty Images

Espanyol should not be where they are. The club from Barcelona are so financially challenged that they sell their best players as soon as a reasonable bid comes in for them.

The €6.5 million (Dh27.2m) January departure of Ivorian Eric Bailly, 20, to Villarreal (who needed him to replace Arsenal-bound Gabriel Paulista) did not impress anyone at Espanyol apart from the bank manager.

They did not replace him.

Espanyol’s average crowds have slipped from 26,000 when their Cornella home opened five years ago to 18,000, which can look pretty depressing in a 40,500-seater venue. They have been able to keep winning, though. Sergio Gonzalez’s team beat Malaga 2-0 away at the weekend and are up to eighth.

They are also in the semi-finals of the Copa del Rey, a competition they won most recently in 2006, and held Athletic Bilbao 1-1 away in the first leg. A potential final with Barcelona awaits. So how have Espanyol turned around a season that started in such a pessimistic mood and poor football, into one where the dressing room is buzzing and the football entertaining?

Espanyol are brilliant at promoting youth players and loaning and signing players from Real Madrid.

Goalkeeper Kiko Casilla made his Spain debut recently, but even his reserve Pau Lopez, 20, who has played in cup matches, looks excellent. You can predict what will happen next with one of those.

Left-back Duarte has been a revelation since promotion from the B team. A Spanish international in all the youth categories, Espanyol’s bank manager is sure to already be rubbing his hands.

They can also rely on some wily old hands. Forward Sergio Garcia, 31, is enjoying the best season of his career in their 4-4-2 formation and there is serious talk about a recall to the Spain team.

Well-travelled striker (seven clubs in five years) Felipe Caicedo is back after leaving Abu Dhabi’s Al Jazira on a free transfer. He rotates with Uruguayan striker Christian Stuani with great effect, while right winger Lucas Vasquez, 23, on loan from Real Madrid B, has been superb.

They have a tight squad of 18 players, which gets smaller with each sale, but it is working.

Given their circumstances and the fact they lost Javier Aguirre as manager – although they were pleased to replace him with the far cheaper former Deportivo player Gonzalez – Espanyol should be fighting relegation. Instead, they are talking about cup finals and pushing for Europe.

Some of those lapsed fans should give them another go.

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