Espanyol had a disastrous 2019/20 campaign and are headed to the second division for the first time in 27 years.
They finished seventh last season and even qualified for Europe, but really struggled to combine midweek football with their domestic obligations – especially as they went all the way to the Europa League last 32. Losing coach Rubi and star striker Borja Iglesias in the summer also didn’t help.
They were poor from the beginning and they were strangely terrible at home all season, winning just two of their 19 home matches. The poor early form saw David Gallego sacked after eight games, but things didn’t get much better under the tactically complicated Pablo Machin and he was out after 10 games in charge.
Abelardo came in at the midway point in the season and finally things started to change, especially after they spent big money in January to sign Raul De Tomas, Adrian Embarba and Leandro Cabrera. De Tomas was particularly excellent, but the team’s good form didn’t last.
After winning their first match back after the coronavirus pause, there was fresh hope for Espanyol. But, they then didn’t win again. Abelardo didn’t even finish the season as sporting director Rufete took over for the final few weeks once their fate was sealed and blooded in some of the youngsters from their academy.
It looks like Espanyol will have a huge budget as they try for a bounce-back promotion, while they’ll also have their very good academy to lean on. They’ll be a huge favourite to come back up, but they do need to go and find the right coach.
