rival

Any glimmer of hope in the delicate situation in which Elche finds itself can serve to lift the arrearsl of a team and a hobby that have been immersed in the dtpression for most of this season.

The tie achieved last Monday in Cádizdespite being a smaller prize, and the improvement shown by the Elche team in the second part; have allowed to house a halo of hope, despite the fact that the Franjiverdes are 12 points behind the positions of permanence and they continue to be at the expense of a miracle to achieve a salvation, which would be historic and hardly unprecedented.

Any burning nail is good to hold on to. AND There are two antecedents to be able to believe. One was carried out by Mallorca and the other by Real Zaragoza.

In the season 2004-2005, the Balearic team cut eleven points behind in the last seven days. The situation of the Majorcans was limit. On the islands they admitted that continuing in the highest category it was “almost impossible”came to comment the then coach of Mallorca, Hector Cuper. The Argentine coach also said that the objective in the last days should be “descend with dignity”. even, the president of Levante, Quico Catalánwho was his rival for permanence, commented that I was sorry, but Mallorca was relegated.

However, The Balearic Islands achieved four victories and three draws in the last seven dayswhich allowed him to finish LaLiga with 39 points and surpass the levantinistas, who stagnated in the final stretch of the competition and were left with 37. The other two teams that descended were the Numancia (29) and Albacete (28).

The current coach of Elche, Pablo Machín will remember that miracle because, at that time, he was training in the lower categories of Numancia and the Sorianos were a direct rival of Mallorca in the second round of LaLiga.

but there is still yet another precedent to believe and dream of the salvation of the Elche team. As reported by Pedro Martín on his Twitter account, There has only been one team, throughout history, that has been able to save itself being 12 points behind of the positions of permanence, as they are, currently, the franjiverdes.

Was the Real Zaragoza in the 2011-2012 campaign. On matchday 25, the hands had 25 points and were 12 behind Villarreal, which was the one that marks the green line of salvation. The Aragonese painting He came to be during 27 days in relegation positions. However, they starred a spectacular second round, in which they added a total of 31 points. He The end of the championship was controversial and there were accusations of alleged purchases of matches from the Zaragoza team, which ended up in court. In the end, Zaragoza He ended up saving himself and Racing de Santander (27), Sporting de Gijón (37) and Villarreal (41) dropped.

Another green fringe, like Raúl Guti, who was in the lower categories of the hand team, will also remember him, like Machín the case of Mallorca, and they can remember him in the locker room to give morale and see that Elche does not have it impossible.

NIt won’t be easy at all, because the Elche team has only been able to score five points in the first 17 rounds and, if the scores of recent seasons are repeated, they need to achieve between 31 and 32 points in the remainder of the competition. A complicated mission. But There are still 21 games left, two from the first round and 19 from the second.

Repeating the numbers of Real Zaragoza in the 2011-2012 campaign or those of Mallorca, in the final stretch of 2004-2005, it is still possible. And these two precedents is where Elche must hold on to be able to believe. The first step should be to win the first match next Sunday (4:15 p.m.), against Osasuna. If the franjiverdes emerge victorious from the clash against the rojillos, the calculators will be activated again and the dream will still be possible.