Turf Wars | Revolució Quadribarrats | Part 8: Turf Wars Heats Up As Sant Andreu Reach LaLiga

The streets of Cataluña witnessed one of the biggest parties the region had ever seen as unfancied challengers Unió Esportiva Sant Andreu celebrated lifting the LaLiga 2 title. Young stars like Óscar Reyes, Luis Marín and Genar Iglesias led one of the longest open-top bus tours ever seen, as they paraded the club’s first-ever trophy from Tarragona across to Lleida, up towards Andorra, across to Girona and south into the centre of Barcelona. Catalan wine flowed freely as street parties served up vast quantities of Pa amb tomàquet, Escudella and Escalivada.

The biggest matter of excitement was the Turf Wars rivalry really heating up, as that promotion meant Sant Andreu would be playing at the same level as cross-city rivals FC Barcelona for the first time – in the season they’d celebrate their 125th anniversary. Ultras leader and elected manager Oriol Ribas was widely seen as the sole catalyst for this success, having inspired Sant Andreu from the fourth-tier Primera Federación to the top tier of LaLiga in six seasons. Ribas, who was now considered a club icon, joined in with the celebrations, leaving his young players to party with his fellow fans deep into the second day of the frivolities.

The Sant Andreu wasted no time adjusting to top-flight football, again expanding the capacity of Narcís Sala to 15,000, further investing in the training facilities and doubling Ribas’ staff numbers. Ribas also got straight to work preparing for Sant Andreu’s first taste of LaLiga. He came into the 2031/32 campaign with £6.7m in the bank, which was boosted by selling attacker Fatawa Cudjoe to Hamburg for £675k, wingers Zakaria Ouazni to Rabat for £575k and Iago Rodríguez to Union Berlin for £250k, goalkeeper Oleksandr Kravets to Nurnberg for £79k and long-serving defender Leo Saca to Cornellá for £63k. But finances were transformed by the LaLiga TV deal, which saw the club earn £18.08m in mid-July and the same amount again over the remainder of the season.

The manager’s first objective was to comply with LaLiga’s minimum wage requirement of £2,600 per week, which would make 16 of last season’s 21-man first-team squad ineligible. The only issue that created was Marín, who was only on £2k, deciding he wanted to move to a bigger club the same day they secured promotion (which seems ridiculous)… but apparently it didn’t matter! But the attacker swiftly put those concerns behind him.

Ribas broke the club’s transfer record four times over the summer, first doubling it to sign Tunisian midfielder Sassi Bouazizi for £300k from CS Sfaxien. That record was broken as defender Nduduzo Banda arrived for £350k from Mamelodi Sundowns. A few days later, both were smashed as Costa Rican goalkeeper Roy Álvarez, who obviously broke his arm in his first friendly appearance, joined for £650k from Herediano. And that was more than doubled as Ribas paid his first seven-figure sum for Czechia international defender Filip Vávra, who arrived for £1.5m from Pardubice and instantly became worth up to £16.5m.

Ribas leaned towards the more defensive of the 4-1-4-1 approaches that secured promotion last season. He retained faith in the homegrown trio of Marín, Razvan Gogu behind Reyes, with Iglesias and Edrin Curri keeping their places out wide. Banda comes in at left back with Raúl Expósito moving to the right and Vávra stepping in at centre back.

Turf Wars Ignites with Early Barcelona Clash

Unsurprisingly, bookmakers Indivisa gave Sant Andreu no hope of survival in LaLiga, predicting them to finish 20th with title odds of 900/1, behind Levante (400/1), Deportivo (450/1) and Cádiz (700/1). Holders Real Madrid are 11/10 favourites along with the arch nemesis FC Barcelona (2/1), Atlético (7.1) and Sociedad, Villarreal and Betis (33/1). It’s worth considering that Sant Andreu’s annual wage salary of £5.48m is one quarter of the next-lowest Levante’s £20.8m, 60 times less than Real Madrid’s £313m and 49 times less than FC Barcelona’s £246m.

Sant Andreu’s first-ever game in LaLiga was a trip to Betis, and they got dominated by 22 shots to 9 and lost 4-1, with Iglesias scoring their first top-tier goal. Another tough test followed as they welcomed Atlético to Narcís Sala, conceded to Álvarez, but levelled as Iglesias crossed for Gogu to tap in from close range. After 54 minutes, the unbelievable happened as Curri beat his man and crossed for Gogu to head in his second. Atlético pushed on and levelled, but Sant Andreu held firm to earn their first-ever top flight point. And that game, at the reduced capacity stadium, set a new LaLiga low attendance of 9,598.

It didn’t get much easier as a trip to Real Madrid followed, and the champions hit the post after 28 seconds, scored from long range after 8 minutes and Mbappé curled in a beauty after 34. They just about held them off until Mbappé tapped in his second, the right back scored from a corner and Guler added a fifth. But Ribas felt that result flattered the hosts, who scored every half-decent chance.

Ribas got a reaction from the team as that man Gogu again scored twice to earn Sant Andreu their first LaLiga victory, downing Valencia 2-0 at home. And they backed that up with Iglesias and Vávra’s first goal nicking a 2-1 win at Levante. That teed up the biggest match in Sant Andreu history as they welcome bitter cross-city rivals FC Barcelona to Narcís Sala for the first time ever. And apparently, the rivalry was too much for midfielder Gavi, who lunged in two-footed on Marín from the kickoff and was sent off after 11 seconds! Barca’s quality showed as Nico Paz walked through the defence to score after 17 minutes. Sant Andreu just edged the first half and came out flying after the break, as Gogu missed a great chance.

But, a minute later, arguably the biggest moment in Sant Andreu history saw Banda send Iglesias down the left, he skinned Koundé and pulled the ball back for Marín to smash in his first LaLiga goal. The Sant Andreu fans went berserk, piling to the front of the three active stands to celebrate with Marín who ripped off his sock to show the deep gash left by Pedri and screaming “Que et fotin, barceloní pocavergonya” at the top of his lungs. Barca were briefly rocked, but went on to dominated but a few great saves by backup Carlos López from Raphinha and Lamine Yamal secured a huge point that the Sant Andreu faithful celebrated like winning a trophy. And if FC Barcelona were unaware of their city rivals before, you can bet their bottom Euro they certainly weren’t now.

Sant Andreu took inspiration from that result into another Barcelona derby as Reyes scored his first LaLiga goal to nick a 2-1 win at fellow promoted side Espanyol, in which Álvarez made 5 saves on debut. The striker’s late goal earned a point at home to Osasuna and Curri’s first top-tier goal nicked a point at Deportivo, before their best performance of the season saw Reyes, Iglesias and centre back Abdulaziz Al-Shammari strikes down Leganés 3-0.

Sant Andreu continued to make a mockery of the bookies’ pre-season predictions. But, in their defence, not even Ribas could have predicted how well their homegrown stars would acclimatise to LaLiga. Reyes scored the opener in a 2-1 win at Sociedad, then a brace while Marín got the other in a dominant 3-0 win over Vallecano. But the main man was arguably Iglesias, who scored 5 with 8 assists in the first 13 games, which saw his value rocket from £6m at the start of the season to over £50m. And that form was rewarded by Iglesias becoming Sant Andreu’s first winner of the European Golden Boy.

The stadium expansion was completed at the end of November and a club-record 15,000 mad Catalans cheered their side to a 4-1 crushing of Villarreal led by another Reyes brace after Marín and Curri strikes. Sant Andreu headed into the new year sitting in an impressive 8th place, a huge 14 points above the relegation places. That overperformance prompted the board to hand Ribas a new 4-year deal that took him from earning £1,100 per week to £16,500.

Academy Favourite Returns to Bolster Survival Bid

Sant Andreu’s squad had been pretty threadbare through the first half of the season. Ribas broke the transfer record again to re-sign 6ft 5in academy product attacker Antonio Vazquez for £2.3m from Udinese, and further strengthened with Colombian centre back Oscar Rojas and midfielder Yilson Cuenca for a combined £2.2m.

They began 2032 where they left off 2031, with Gogu’s brace leading a 4-0 demolition of Cádiz. The tricky run from the start of the season repeated itself, starting by getting thumped 5-2 at Atlético before Curri’s brace earned a point at home to Betis. They put up a decent fight in their first trip to Santiago Bernabéu as Marín and Reyes scored in a 4-2 defeat, before the arch nemesis FC Barcelona got their revenge by hammering them 5-0.

However, Sant Andreu proved themselves more than capable of beating LaLiga’s lesser clubs. Reyes bagged a superb hat trick to lead a 5-0 thumping of Levante and scored again in a 2-0 win over Espanyol, which took his side to 38 points, 17 clear of relegation, in late February. Vazquez scored twice on his return, despite a 3-2 loss at Osasuna, and Curri followed suit in a 4-1 win over Deportivo to take them past the 40-point mark.

The form dropped off in April, but Marín’s goal against Cádiz gave Sant Andreu a shot at securing European football. Another Reyes brace downed Girona 2-0, sending them into 7th for a final day clash with Sevilla. And his opener at Sevilla was enough to earn a draw that secured Conference League football! Sant Andreu finished 7th in LaLiga on 59 points, after 17 wins, 8 draws and 13 wins, scoring 68 (6th most) and conceding 60 (9th most).

Unbelievably, Iglesias was the 4th-best player in LaLiga with a 7.39 rating, above Raphinha, Pedri and Lamine Yamal. He also got the 2nd-most assists (17), only bettered by Raphinha (20), and created the 2nd-most chances (30), only bettered by Mbappé’s 31. with Marín joint-5th with 11, while Reyes was the joint-3rd top scorer with 22, only bettered by Ferran Torres and Hugo Duro (31 and 25).

Sant Andreu Take LaLiga by Storm

Sant Andreu had performed beyond the wildest dreams of the board, their supporters and even Ribas. The manager knew how good the likes of Marín, Reyes and Iglesias were, so he hadn’t been overly concerned about relegation, but certainly didn’t expect any more than a mid-table finish. And they were again thankful for their superstar homegrown attacking quartet. However, looking at player development, this overachievement wasn’t that big a surprise. Half of the first-team squad are now considered LaLiga players, and there’s still plenty more potential to be realised.

Reyes led the way with 23 goals in 41 games, followed by Gogu (13), Marín and Curri (11), Iglesias (6) and Vazquez (5). But undoubtedly their star man was Iglesias, who led the way with 19 assists, plus a 7.44 rating, followed by Marín (12), Curri (10) and Gogu and Reyes (8).

However, the one sour note on an exciting season was FC Barcelona usurping their city rivals by winning LaLiga. While Sant Andreu signed more players, they still spent seven times less and their wage spend pales into insignificance compared to the Barca, for whom Yamal earns six times more than the entire Quadribarrats squad.

Sant Andreu were on a meteoric rise, from fourth-tier football just seven years ago to preparing for European football next season! But could Ribas and his young stars continue to surprise? Join us next Friday to find out!