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last day of the league, and several players were saying goodbye for the last
time to their fans. Some of them, like Real Madrid's Sanchis, did it in style,
collecting the league trophy and getting a standing ovation from the
supporters. Others though chose a different route, and non more so than
Zaragoza's Esnaider. When he rejoined the club in winter it was a popular move,
with fans remembering the success he had in his previous spell. For a while his
goals took Zaragoza out of the danger zone, and it looked like the move would
be made permanent. However things went wrong a couple of weeks ago when he
returned from injury too soon, and the crowd booed the team's poor
performances. Esnaider took it personally and ended up fighting with a couple
of supporters after the game, and then refused to play in the next home match,
claiming he was still injured. This weekend he finally reappeared in the
Romareda in a vital game with their place in the first division in danger, and
the crowd let him know what they thought right from the start. After fifteen
minutes he had had enough, and with his nerves on edge he let fly with his
elbow, hitting Jayo in the face in an off the ball incident. Red card, and off
he went to one of the loudest "broncas" of the season. Zaragoza held on to
draw, but Juan Eduardo will not be returning next season. Other than that three
more sendings off, with Rabarivony getting his marching orders for pulling down
Eto'o in the penalty area. It left his team with ten men and a goal down with
the second half to play, and the rest is history; Oviedo will be playing in the
second division next season. Osasuna's Trzeciak got himself sent off for a
second bookable offence, but in the last minute after his team had already
secured their survival in the first division. The other player to leave the
field early was Bilbao's Larrainzar, who had a bit of a rotten day, helping the
ball past his own keeper for Racing's opening goal and then picking up a second
booking a few minutes later. All of them will miss the opening game of next
season, as will Pellegrino and García Calvo, who both picked up their
tenth yellow cards of the season. Only the cup now remains, and with Luis
Enrique suspended for both legs of the semi-final it looks as if Téllez
will take our villains award for the second year running. The final table will
be published once it is all over in a couple of weeks time.
(18.06.01) |
