This is not a final, whatever the noise around it may suggest. But Racing de Santander vs RCD Espanyol at El Sardinero is still a proper stress test, and Manolo González knows it. His side arrive with four league matches without a win, only one point above the relegation zone, and with the criticism growing louder every time Espanyol fail to turn performance into points.
That is the problem with a run like this: the numbers do not flatter anyone. Espanyol have taken just eight points from nine matches, scored only six goals, and gone three league games without finding the net. When you add the manner of those defeats — Atlético de Madrid in the 89th minute after a goal by Baena, Madrid in the 90th minute, Málaga in the 93rd minute — the frustration only sharpens. There is a version of this story where Espanyol have simply been unlucky. There is another, more uncomfortable version, where they have repeatedly left themselves exposed when games tighten. The truth may sit somewhere between the two, but the pressure is very real either way.
Pressure without panic, but no room for comfort
Manolo González has tried to keep the temperature down. He says he does not feel he is playing for his job in Santander, and he has rejected the idea that this is a final. In his words, he does not sense that feeling from the dressing room or the club. He is right to resist the melodrama. A league season does not end in October, and football is often far too quick to treat every difficult spell as a referendum on the manager.
But that does not mean the questions are fake. When results are poor, attention naturally turns to the bench, and González admitted as much when he noted that poor results inevitably lead people to look at the coach. He also brushed off the talk with a dry realism, saying that the noise is what sells and that people have to live with it. Fair enough. That is the bargain for any coach, especially one whose system is being criticised while the points total remains far too thin.
And there is another layer here that makes the trip to Santander even more awkward. Racing are also going through a poor run, which means this is not just Espanyol trying to steady themselves; it is a clash between two sides carrying the same kind of tension. Both teams are looking over their shoulders. Both need something to stop the drift. That is why the match matters so much, even if nobody inside Espanyol wants to dress it up as a grand footballing judgment.
The scheduling does González no special favours either. After El Sardinero, Espanyol face Sestao River in the Copa and Villarreal in the league, which means this away game sits at the start of a stretch where confidence could either be repaired or further damaged. That is the real danger. Not that one result defines everything, but that another poor night would deepen the sense that Espanyol are slipping into a pattern they cannot easily shake.
There is still time, of course. González has made clear he will keep working until the end of his contract, and that he sees the club as bigger than any single storyline. That is the correct attitude. Yet football rarely rewards noble intentions on their own. Espanyol need a result, and they need a performance that looks less fragile than the ones that have gone before. Because if the margins keep turning against them, the conversation around Manolo González will only get louder — whether he likes the framing or not.
