RCD Espanyol Preview

Coach: Mauricio Pochettino, ex-captain of the club. This is his first coaching assignment.
Stadium: Estadi Cornellà-El Prat, Capacity (40,000)
Region: Catalonia
Nickname: Blanquiazules or blanquiblaus (white-blues), Periquitos (Parakeets),
Derby: Barcelona
Sponsor: Interapuestas.com, a division of Interwetten.com an online betting website from the island of Malta
Kit Description: Home: A historic blue and white stripe shirt with blue shorts and white socks. Away: A yellow shirt hearkening back to the original color scheme (coincidentally why they call themselves parakeets) with a diagonal stripe in blue. White shorts and blue socks even things out. Third: If I called it a Boca Juniors home kit it wouldn’t be too far from the truth. It’s a blue kit overall with a yellow diagonal stripe instead of Boca’s horizontal stripe. Other than that, there are blue shorts and blue socks.

History: The club was founded at the University of Barcelona on October 28, 1900, the first to consider itself an all-Spanish team, as most to date were predominantly foreign. Their name, Espanyol in Catalan and Español in Castilian reflects their decidedly nationalistic origins. In 1910 the club adopted its present blue and white colors in honor of the Medieval Italian admiral Ruggiero di Lauria who flew similar colors for the Kingdom of Aragon. In 1912, they secured royal patronage and became Real Club Deportivo Español. They were founding members of the Spanish League in 1928 and actually scored the inaugural goal in the competition. They called the legendary stadium Sarria, site of the Barcelona Olympics, their home, but moved to the Olympic Stadium at Montjuic. They have since moved into a state of the art stadium on the outskirts of Barcelona in Cornella-El Prat.

Trophy Room:
* Copa del Rey (1929, 40, 2000, 06)

Famous Former Players: Joan Capdevila, Jordi Cruyff, Alfredo DiStefano, L. Kubala, Paco Palencia, Mauricio Pochettino, Albert Riera, Maxi Rodriguez, Rufete, Ernesto Valverde, Ricardo Zamora (he for whom the Zamora trophy, the best keeper in La Liga, is named).
Main Story from last year: The main story from last year is how poorly the team played for much of the year, cycling through 3 coaches before settling on the unschooled Pochettino who made a pilgrimage to the Virgin at Montserrat, to save them from relegation, and they ended the year one of the hottest teams in Spain.

Transfers: Verdú (Deportivo), Nakamura (Glasgow Celtic), Ben Sahar (Chelsea), Pillud (Tiro Federal – one year loan), Roncaglia (Boca Juniors – one year loan), Forlín (Boca Juniors), Marqués (Iraklis), Javi Márquez (junior teams). Nené (Mónaco – loan period ended), Sito Riera (Panionios), Rufete (Hércules), Valdo (Málaga – one year loan), Marc Torrejón (Racing Santander), Sergio Sánchez (Sevilla), Beranger (Las Palmas), Román (Tenerife – one year loan), Angel (Rayo Vallecano – one year loan), Oscar Sielva (Cartagena – one year loan), Finnan, Lacruz (contracts ended), Lola (left out of squad), Jarque (deceased)

Squad Overview: There was much talk that Espanyol were primed and ready to dispense with the contracts and the negative influences of Tamudo and De la Pena, but it was clear that either would have left if there had been any takers. Their bluffs were called and the “Mister” secured his power-base, he elected Dani Jarque his new captain, a player from the cantera who bled blanc-i-blau, and many were predicting a remarkable season from the club, what with a new stadium and a player like Shunsuke Nakamura in the fold over the Summer. No one expected that Jarque would die from an undiagnosed heart ailment and the club would be left reeling.

Prediction: Improved. 8th.