The buildup to Espanyol-Athletic

Tomorrow at 4 p.m. in the UK (8 a.m. in the USA), Espanyol are home to Athletic Bilbao. Athletic are doing better than they did last year and are sitting in 12th with 13 points. One of the subplots to this game is the return of Gorka Iraizoz, the former Espanyol goalkeeper who is now with Athletic.

"It's different, special, rare.... I am going to play against my former club who I played with for five years, so for me it is a very special game. For me it is surreal, because I never imagined playing there."

Marca link (in Spanish)


In other news, Luis Garcia has reminded people that he has never played for Liverpool by publicly opposing a rotation system.

Today, Luis Garcia talked about rotations and the overloaded calendar. The forward is not in favor of them but clarified that it is the coach's decision to rest players. "Personally, I don't like the rotations. I'm fit and I only hope that I don't get injured, so that I can give the maximum for Espanyol and help the team, said Luis Garcia, that he is the fourth player of the group that more minutes has disputed and that it has not been affected by the changes in the alignments of the technician, Ernesto Valverde.

El Mundo Deportivo link (in Spanish)



The new stadium at Cornellá de Llobregat y el Prat de Llobregat is also getting on, with Espanyol confirming that one year from now, the new stadium will be completed. Three years ago, Daniel Sanchez Llibre told workers: "You can begin, already," and the first piece of earth was dug for a new home for the club to replace the beloved Sarria. Espanyol have spent 53 million euros building the new ground (which is not a lot of money - so either good value for money or it'll be a spartan ground) and will be looking for a sponsor to pay for the stadium's name, although Llibre and fans have unofficially called it the Nou Sarria. Capacity will be around 40,000, leaving open the possibility of Espanyol hosting UEFA Cup finals in the futre and Spanish international games.