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A stoppage-time eruption and a crying Manolo Gonz?lez means the Catalan club?s long-awaited victory changes everything
After 143 days and many more sleepless nights Manolo Gonz?lez was liberated, if only for a little while. In the 92nd minute of the 19th game of 2026, something amazing happened: Espanyol won and Espanyol went wild. A goal up against Athletic Club, a late Gorka Guruzeta header had shaken them more than the post it hit, a familiar fatalism refusing to leave, and they were desperately hanging on to what they had now and had lost too many times before, whistling for this suffering to finally end, when at last they could let go. ?You have to be strong in life but, bloody hell, we all have limits,? Gonz?lez said, and they had reached theirs but now, on a Wednesday evening in May, they were released.
Ramon Terrats, a boyhood Espanyol, nodded the ball on. Kike Garc?a, the only member of the squad born in the 80s and a man with a bit of the 80s about him, a 36-year-old, 6ft 1in, 12-stone striker they call the ?labourer of goals?, a sub who had only been out there six minutes, ran on to it. Keeping his head, he guided a shot past Unai Sim?n so everyone else could lose theirs. The clock said 91.06. The scoreboard said 2-0. The table said: 14th, 42 points, 11 wins. And 29,943 people said: argrhjrfujhkngsafkjhfskljdzrogjdgixjkgjhlkbxcfh. As for Gonz?lez, he broke down and cried.
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After 143 days and many more sleepless nights Manolo Gonz?lez was liberated, if only for a little while. In the 92nd minute of the 19th game of 2026, something amazing happened: Espanyol won and Espanyol went wild. A goal up against Athletic Club, a late Gorka Guruzeta header had shaken them more than the post it hit, a familiar fatalism refusing to leave, and they were desperately hanging on to what they had now and had lost too many times before, whistling for this suffering to finally end, when at last they could let go. ?You have to be strong in life but, bloody hell, we all have limits,? Gonz?lez said, and they had reached theirs but now, on a Wednesday evening in May, they were released.
Ramon Terrats, a boyhood Espanyol, nodded the ball on. Kike Garc?a, the only member of the squad born in the 80s and a man with a bit of the 80s about him, a 36-year-old, 6ft 1in, 12-stone striker they call the ?labourer of goals?, a sub who had only been out there six minutes, ran on to it. Keeping his head, he guided a shot past Unai Sim?n so everyone else could lose theirs. The clock said 91.06. The scoreboard said 2-0. The table said: 14th, 42 points, 11 wins. And 29,943 people said: argrhjrfujhkngsafkjhfskljdzrogjdgixjkgjhlkbxcfh. As for Gonz?lez, he broke down and cried.
Continue reading...
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