The enthusiasm of 2,600 members, which today will become 4,000 to fill the Nou Sardenya, will serve as inspiration for CE Europa, a historic but modest Barcelona team, in its confrontation in the second round of the Copa del Rey against Las Palmas, which just three days ago they defeated Barça in Montjuïc. After many years, the Gràcia team is once again in the spotlight for sporting reasons, and optimism has skyrocketed in the club. There is the feeling of experiencing a unique opportunity, and that makes CE Europe a very important rival, as Carles Mur, team manager, recognizes. “Dreaming is free, on paper Las Palmas has just beaten Barcelona, they have just played in front of 40,000 people and now they will do so in front of 4,000. But in different conditions, with artificial grass. We think about winning, of course we do. Anything can happen,” he says.
The Europa board is made up of eleven people, none of them are dedicated full time and all of them have their jobs outside the exciting Europa project, which implies a very great personal effort. “Now I am in the office where I work and around half past five we will arrive at the club and we will leave at ten at night very safely so that everything works. We are all putting in quite a few hours, because it is a match with a certain complexity due to certain rules that the Federation imposes on us in this round,” Mur acknowledged yesterday morning to The Vanguard .
President Ibar reveals to this newspaper that the fence that he gave up in front of Sant Andreu has already been replaced
The match against Las Palmas will be an important economic injection that “will help pay the bills,” but it is also “a tremendous hope,” says Mur. “It changes our photo for many things. For a team of 2,500 members from Barcelona, always under the shadow of the greats and with many limitations, because we are a team of members, this is brutal. Being on television, having an impact, having people talk about us… We are very happy,” he acknowledges.
The president of the club, Héctor Ibar, assures that economically this match has a “double effect”, due to “a subsidy that comes from television, which is wonderful for us”, and the collection itself, which will be greater because so much Members and non-members will pay for their entry.
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Ibar explains to The Vanguard that this match has involved a lot of extra work, starting with replacing the fence that gave way in the match against Sant Andreu, causing its suspension, and which was installed last Friday. The payment has been advanced by the club, but the City Council, owner of the Nou Sardenya stadium, will take charge later. “The adaptation of the field, with several changes such as removing the seven-a-side soccer goals, improving some things on the grass, changing the goal supports, which apparently are not legal. But also the lighting, the press, since we are not used to so many media outlets being accredited. All this requires additional effort. Then all the logistics of the tickets, which are very complex,” he summarized.
Ibar appeals to the atmosphere generated in the stadium as its main weapon to overcome a very difficult tie. “The players are very excited. Defeating Albacete generated an atmosphere of positivity. Furthermore, we play on our field, which is smaller in size than the First Division. Here the public is very close and an atmosphere is created that generates strong pressure on the rival team. That is where we bet and we will play our tricks,” he concludes.
In addition to Europa, its eternal rival in Barcelona, Sant Andreu, is also immersed in this round of the Copa del Rey. The quadribarrats Tomorrow they will receive another Primera, Betis, at the Narcís Sala. Olot, a team that Europa defeated last weekend, will also face Sevilla. Nàstic-Huesca and Logroñés-Girona complete the list of Catalan teams in this round, along with Espanyol, who tonight will seek their place against the also modest Barbastro, from the Second Federation.
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