ABELARDO FERNANDEZ MAGIC TOUCH

For the 3rd time this year, RCD Espanyol changed their coach in order to avoid the embarrassment of being relegated. Curiously, they hired a specialist in that regard. Abelardo Fernandez has produced that miracle several times in Spanish football and will try to do it again with the club from Catalonia.

Real Sporting Gijón 2015/2016

Sporting Gijón had recently been promoted to the main Spanish division, after finishing 2nd in La Liga 2. However, they had a very tough year ahead. On week 35 they went to Camp Nou in hopes of collecting a point but ended up blown out of the pitch by 6-0, as things were starting to look dark for them. In the next 3 fixtures, they collected 7 points, netting 2 wins and a draw at Getafe, one of their main rivals at the time for relegation. A 2-0 win in front of their fans sealed the deal, with Abelardo coming off as a hero.

Deportivo Alavés

He was hired by Alavés back in December when the club was sitting in 19th. They were with 9 points in 14 games at the time, and even though there was still a lot to be played, his mission to turn it around wasn’t so simple. He ended up finishing at the 14th position, obtaining 1.58 points in average from the following 24 games. It was clear by then, that Abelardo had the ability to come into a struggling club and completely shift the mentality.

Espanyol bound to stay in La Liga now?

Fast forward to now, and RCD Espanyol are sitting last on La Liga with 10 points, 5 points behind the last place who grants another year at the main domestic competition in Spain. They’ve sold Mario Hermoso and Borja Iglesias for a sum of €50 million but didn’t invest that money to acquire new players, something that could change in this Winter transfer window with Abelardo. Can he reproduce the previous works with Gijón and Alavés now with Espanyol?