To the surprise of everyone in Spain, let alone in Barcelona, little Unió Esportiva Sant Andreu secured promotion to Spain’s second tier for the first time in club history in 2028. This saw the Turf Wars begin to simmer, with the club now just one league below their city rivals FC Barcelona for the first time.
Manager Oriol Ribas, who secured his Continental C licence in the summer, wanted to remain loyal to the youngsters who got them into this position. However, for the second time in six months, they lost one of them to Udinese for a new club record transfer fee as Raúl, who decided he was too big for the club, moved to Italy for up to £875k.
Ribas promoted more youth in striker Antonio David Martín and full backs Markus Petersen and Moussa Karamoko. However, LaLiga 2’s slightly baffling £1,200-per-week minimum wage registration rule, excluding players under 19, caused major issues. Ribas had to hurriedly hand out a mass of new contracts as the season was getting started, while several new signings were unable to be registered and had to be loaned out. That meant Ribas was effectively left to work with exactly the same squad as last season.
The registration struggles and early results forced Ribas to change up his approach, moving to a more defensive 3-5-2 and 4-5-1 fusion (aka 7 at the back). The academy stars of Óscar Reyes and 16-year-old potential superstar Luis Marín will be the main creative forces in behind striker Héctor Tejada, with the potential for them to play wider.
Stepping up to Tough LaLiga 2 Challenge
Unsurprisingly, Sant Andreu were made huge favourites for relegation with title odds of 500/1. They were now up against massive clubs like 3/1 favourites Leganés, relegated Racing Santander and Las Palmas (7/2), former Spanish champions Deportivo (4/1), Cádiz (5/1) and Sporting Gijón, Elche and Granada (6/1). And, other than Sant Andreu, the rest of the league was fairly tight, with fellow promoted Ponferradina having the next longest odds of 100/1.
Sant Andreu began the season with a host of players unregistered, and teams full of kids put in valiant efforts to lose 4-3 and 4-2 to Santander and their old cross-city foes Barcelona Atlétic. A few more players returned and got thumped 4-1 at home to Zaragoza. But the switch in formation worked wonders as they not only kept a clean sheet but centre back Galde headed the only goal from a free kick on 79 minutes to give Sant Andreu their first ever LaLiga 2 points.
Arguably Sant Andreu’s toughest-ever test followed as they hosted former Spanish champions Deportivo and were a little unlucky to lose 2-1. The away form continued to be awful, but at home, the formation was proving pretty solid. Midfielder Dani Ávila’s penalty nicked a 1-0 over Tarragona and winger Razvan Gogu’s strike earned the same scoreline over Burgos. It looked like the team was finally beginning to click as Áveli laid on goals for Aureli and Reyes to secure an impressive 2-1 win at Gijón, and the same duo scored in a 2-0 win at home to Córdoba. But they stepped up several notches as Reyes’ brace led a stunning 5-0 demolition of Ponferradina.
Reyes was absolutely carrying the team on his shoulders, as he scored two more to inspire a 3-2 win at Granada, which lifted Sant Andreu into the top half – and, crucially, above Barcelona Atlétic – for the first time. The form dipped a little, but they went into a month-long winter break sitting in 13th place on 30 points, 12 clear of the relegation zone. Sant Andreu’s performance saw the board hand Ribas a new two-year contract on £1k a week and agree to requests to boost youth recruitment and junior coaching.
Eyes on Survival for Sant Andreu
Ribas was able to offer a new contract and register his first cash signing, Argentinian right back Joaquín Yapura, who joined for £9k from Rosario Central in the summer. That allowed him to revert to his preferred 4-2-3-1 approach with Marín playing in behind Reyes.
Sant Andreu returned to action with a huge game as they hosted Barcelona Atlétic, and they began 2029 with yet another defeat to FC Barcelona’s B team. A tough set of fixtures saw them go 10 games without a win, although that did include an impressive 1-1 at Deportivo and 0-0 at Zaragoza, in which they lost Reyes for up to three months with a torn groin. That forced Ribas into the loan market and the striker’s replacement Roberto Rodríguez impressed with a hat trick in a 3-1 win at home to Gijón, which virtually secured Sant Andreu’s safety with 7 games remaining. Reyes returned in style with a hat trick of his own to down Granada 3-1, but they finished the season with a tricky spell before a 3-2 final-day win at home to Oviedo.
Sant Andreu finished in a very respectable 15th place on 56 points after 16 wins, 8 draws and 18 defeats, scoring 63, the same as 5th-place Deportivo, and conceding 76, more than two of the relegated sides. Reyes was the 12th-top scorer with an impressive 20 in 34, well behind Málaga’s Julen Lobete on 33, while Gogu got the joint-third most assists with 15 and Marín was joint-16th with 12.
Surprise Overperformance at Sant Andreu
Ribas had been worried in the first few weeks of the season, but the rapid improvement of his young players had seen Sant Andreu massively overperform in Spain’s second tier. They were led by the superb Reyes, who top-scored with 20 goals but no assists in 34, followed by Marín and Rodríguez (8), Ávila (7) and Gogu (5), while Gogu topped the assists chart with 15, followed by Marín (13), Madou Murcia (5) and Ávila (5).
The step up to LaLiga 2 seemed to have finally solved Sant Andreu’s financial issues. The club was now making money every month, largely thanks to a sizeable league TV deal that took them out of the red for the first time and saw them end the season with £3m in the bank. And that, coupled with significant player development, meant things were looking bright in this corner of Barcelona. Here’s how the club has fared in comparison with the big club FC Barcelona, with the gap very slightly reducing between the two.
The promise was boosted further by another strong youth intake led by four elite talents in full backs Adria Autet and David Hoban, midfielder Adria Marcet and striker Marti Nomen. They also had four top talents in striker Genar Márquez, centre back Pablo Puigoriol and left back Khalid Bounou.
Ribas was really excited with the club’s progression and very proud of how his youngsters had performed this season. But could they continue to overperform in their second season in the second tier? Join us next Monday to find out!
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