Nine years ago, Oriol Ribas was the leader of one of Unió Esportiva Sant Andreu’s Ultras groups, proudly taking his place leading the chants at Narcís Sala every weekend. Now, he was the even prouder manager of this great club who, unbelievably, had led it to consecutive European trophies in the Conference League and the Europa League.
Ribas and his young stars, including the heroic homegrown attacking quartet of Genar Iglesias, Luis Marín, Razvan Gogu and Óscar Reyes, were greeted home from Turin with epic scenes. The whole of Cataluña took to the streets to see them parade the Europa League trophy through the streets of the region, with flares exploding and Catalan flags proudly waving.
The festivities lasted a few days, and Ribas took a few more to reflect on the progress they’d made in nine years. Not only had they made it into the promised land to compete with Turf Wars rivals FC Barcelona for the first time, they’d also claimed their first two major honours and recorded their first top-six finish. However, Ribas was keen to avoid becoming “too big time” like their cross-city rivals, which meant retaining his focus on developing the club’s youngsters and continuing to snap up young players from around the world. And that began by dishing out new contracts for Iglesias, Gogu, Reyes and right winger Endrit Curri.
There was big news off the pitch as club owner Taito Suzuki announced he was retiring at the age of 55, which prompted a series of takeover rumours and “on the rocks” news items that rumbled on for months without being resolved. And the takeover attempt eventually collapsed in March! An annual profit of £27m allowed Suzuki to clear the club’s £13m debts in mid-June, which left them with a bank balance of £58m. Ribas also added to the club’s burgeoning global affiliations by partnering with Portuguese club Pacos de Ferreira and Uruguayan side Danubio, who joined local side Cerdanyola, Georgia’s Dinamo Tbilisi, France’s Sochaux, Slovenia’s Trencin. While the club’s infrastructure was further boosted with youth facility and coaching improvements
Ribas moved on a couple of failed signings, as Beppe Stoch Rydell joined Norrkoping for £350k and Robinson Aponzá, who failed to settle or get gametime, moved to West Brom for £450k. Later in the transfer window, centre back Vávra kicked up a fuss about playing time (after 1 league game), requested to leave, rejected a £15m move to Deportivo then joined Betis for £6.75m.
Ribas smashed the club’s transfer record three times on the same day, bringing in midfielder Eric Croes for £4.5m from Feyenoord, winger António Cunha for £8m from Basel and attacker Henrique Mira for up to £11m from Juventude. He also signed Brazilian left back Tales for £3m from Ferroviário, Chilean midfielder Cristobal Asta-Buruaga for £2m from Colo-Colo, Paraguayan 6ft 3in winger Miguel Cacéres for £850k from Olimpia, Singaporean full back Anuar Masri for £125k from LC Sailors and Cameroonian striker Armel Dikwa, who’d mostly beef up the youth sides.
Ribas stuck with the 4-3-3 approach that had been the catalyst for their recent success. However, he also had the more cautious strikerless approach, which helped them beat Atlético twice last season, in his back pocket for games against bigger clubs.
4th Season in LaLiga
Interestingly, all of the big three changed managers in the summer amid an intriguing manager merry-go-round. Hansi Flick stepped down to become DoF at FC Barcelona and the club re-appointed Luis Enrique, who was replaced at PSG by Real Madrid’s Vincent Kompany. After courting Ribas and offering him £105k to jump ship, Real replaced Kompany with Arne Slot, then Atlético sacked Fabian Hurzeler and, after also offering Ribas an interview, appointed Betis’ Ínigo Pérez.
Sant Andreu began the season well as midfielder Pedro Rodríguez scored inside 2 minutes at home to last season’s surprise package Gijón, before a Gogu brace sealed a 3-1 win. Another impressive performance followed as centre back Peter Digha and Curri earned a 2-0 victory at Athletic. A big game followed at Turf Wars rivals FC Barcelona, for which Ribas puilled out the strikerless approach. The hosts started strongly, but Sant Andreu struck first as midfielder Yilson Cuenca scored from the second phase of a corner. Pedri equalised with a ridiculous (although he looked well offside).The visitors held out until 72 minutes, when Barca’s ludicrous striker scored a goal that was this time clearly offside but not even checked by VAR. Ribas had to go for it but nothing else happened and they were frustrated by a 2-1 defeat that showed they were getting closer. Another big step to competing with the big three came as Reyes scored inside 8 minutes at home to Real, but Endrick earned the visitors a point.
Gogu became the club’s record appearances holder as he played his 240th league game and, despite some tricky form at the end of the year, they went into a winter break sitting 6th, 20 points behind surprise undefeated leaders Atlético. They began 2035 well as Marín laid on goals for Reyes and Cuenca to earn a 2-0 win at home to Deportivo before Pedro, Curri and Reyes strikes led a dominant 3-0 victory at Almería. The strong start to the year continued through to hosting rivals FC Barcelona in mid-February and, despite having probably the better chances, they fell to a 2-1 defeat, making it 8 games without a win against Barca, taking just 1 point, scoring 6 and conceding 22.
Predictably, that narrow defeat ushered in a poor run of form that intensified with games and injuries mounting, leading to 2 wins in 11 games from February into April. However, Marín scored the only goal at Espanyol and, in the final ever match at Narcís Sala, they beat Almería 3-1 to secure consecutive 6th-place finishes. Sant Andreu finished on 61 points (3 more than last season) after 18 wins, 7 draws and 13 defeats, scoring 63 and conceding 53.
Sant Andreu in the Champions League
It felt pretty surreal to be preparing for Champions League football nine years on from visiting clubs like Andratx and Conquense in the Spanish fourth tier. Sant Andreu’s first taste of the Champions League served up some tasty but also winnable fixtures, before finishing with a trip to Bayern. And, amusingly, the bookies gave them 3,000/1 odds to complete an unprecedented European treble. Sant Andreu got their first taste of facing Europe’s elite as they took on PSG in the UEFA Super Cup. And they did well to hold the European champions to a 1-1 draw, but lost 4-2 on penalties.
The little Barcelona side’s first taste of the Champions League was a trip to Lille, and Curri seized on a defensive mistake before centre back Oscar Rojas headed in a corner to nick a 2-1 victory. The first-ever Champions League game at Narcís Sala saw a sellout 15,000 people turn up for the visit of Crvena Zvezda. The home faithful inspired a superb start as left back Nduduzo Banda cut inside and converted inside 2 minutes, and a brilliant run and finish by Marín 90 seconds later, before repeating the feat half an hour later. The visitors got one back, but a wonderful strike by giant right back Giorgios Christoforou strike made it 4-1, before Curri scored a low 25-yarder and the big right back headed his second to seal a 6-1 demolition.
A solid defensive performance earned a 0-0 at Shakhtar, before the toughest test so far was navigated as Gogu’s late 20-yarder nicked a 1-1 at home to AC Milan. Marín, Reyes, Curri and Pedro sealed a dominant 4-1 victory at home to AZ and they kept the good form going as a Reyes brace inspired a brilliant 3-2 win at Dortmund. In the new year, they resumed with Iglesias and Christoforou earning a tight 2-1 win at home to Brighton, before an injury-hit team lost 4-2 at Bayern. However, that was enough to lock down 8th place on goal difference from surprise performers Hajduk, ahead of the likes of Inter, Arsenal and Liverpool.
A tasty draw followed as Sant Andreu took on AC Milan in the last 16 of the Champions League. They went behind to an early Camarda goal, and Ribas feared the worst, but Gogu’s delicious strike levelled things up and they held on for a draw. And that was crucial as a strong home performance started well with Banda tapping in from a corner before Reyes’ brace wrapped up a 3-1 victory.
A tougher task followed as Sant Andreu took on Arsenal. The first leg was at home, and the hosts came out flying, having three decent chances before Iglesias rifled in the opener after 10 minutes. The lead was doubled after half an hour as great play between Iglesias and Marín teed up Gogu from close range, and they were in dreamland 3 minutes later as a brilliant Iglesias run and shot was turned in by Marín. Arsenal didn’t even get a shot on target in the first half, grew into it after the break and got one back before Saka was sent off for a horror challenge in injury time. And that helped Sant Andreu pull off probably the most impressive victory in club history. Ribas took a more conservative approach in England, and Christoforou’s early header gave them something to hold on to and was enough to secure a 2-1 defeat. Unbelievably, that sent little Sant Andreu into the Champions League semis!
That teed up a massive challenge as Sant Andreu took on reigning European champions Paris Saint-Germain. The first leg was in France and the Spanish minnows shocked the holders as Curri won the ball back on halfway and picked out Curri to send Reyes clean through to score on 26 minutes. PSG piled the pressure on, hitting the bar twice in the last 3 minutes of the first half, but they held on to lead at the break. Gogu had a shot superbly saved 3 minutes after halftime, but PSG dominated from there on, equalising on 76 minutes and hitting the bar through Vitinha 2 minute later. So Ribas went more defensive and held on for an impressive 1-1.
Ribas rested the first 11 for the league, and there was a buzz in the air as excited Catalans welcomed the might of PSG to their tiny 15,000-capacity stadium. A nervy first half followed, with the hosts edging it by 4 shots to 2… until Curri got in down the right and sent a low cross in for Reyes to tap in from close range in injury time. Moisés Caicedo hit the bar 90 seconds after the break and, just like the first leg, they equalised with just under 20 minutes remaining. That’s how it finished, sending the tie into extra time. Nothing happened in the first half, but Pedro’s shot went agonisingly wide before Reyes saw a shot hit the post. And the game went to penalties. Curri obviously missed the first penalty, but Roy Álvarez also saved from Kvaratskhelia. Pedro coolly converted, so did Vitinha, Reyes blasted home, and Álvarez saved from striker Uche to make it 2-1. Christoforou calmly scored… and Álvarez saved a 3rd penalty from Doué! Sant Andreu won 3-1 on penalties to, ridiculously, reach the Champions League Final!
Historic Champions League Final
After winning the Europa Conference League in 2033 to qualify for the Europa League in 2034, then winning that to qualify fo the Champions League, Sant Andreu had a chance to rewrite history winning what many were labelling the “European triple crown.” And, fittingly, their opponent in the biggest game in club history was, of course, Turf Wars rivals FC Barcelona, who they’d still never beaten. Unbelievably, Marín went AWOL after being seen leaving a nightclub the week after the PSG win, but he was back in the fold for the Final, despite being unhappy. And 50,000 Barcelona natives descended on Strawberry Arena in Solna, Sweden, as Turf Wars erupted into a full-blown riot.
Ribas had a clean bill of health, while Barca had lost Gavi to injury, and he lined up:
Álvarez; Christoforou, Digha, Rojas, Banda; Pedro; Curri, Marín, Gogu, Iglesias; Reyes
Subs: Dikwa, González, Ilievski, Cuenca, Hundnes, Croes, Tales, Gyesi, Norbert, Novotny
Barcelona started brighter, but Reyes went close on 17 minutes as a corner was recycled and he headed Curri’s cross onto the bar. However, Barca hit the front 10 minutes later as their winger was somehow unmarked at the back post and Sant Andreu struggled to get going in attack. Ribas made a few subtle tweaks and fired the team up at the break, which worked nicely as Iglesias’ shot bounced off the post and into the path of Marín to equalise 125 seconds into the second half. Christoforou’s wasteful clearance allowed Barca to counter and restore their lead after 74 minutes. But Sant Andreu didn’t give up and, after going attacking, great play by Reyes and Marín teed up Curri drill the ball into the far corner. The game finished 2-2, which in itself was only their second-ever draw with Barca, to go to extra time.
Very little happened in the extra 30 minutes, other than Paz firing miles over, and the game went to the lottery of penalties. Paz converted the first spotkick and Reyes found the exact same spot in the bottom corner, as did Yamal, before former Barca man Pedro’s penalty was saved. But Álvarez immediately saved from Pablo, only for Christoforou to shoot straight at the keeper. Cubarsí scored to put Barca on the edge, and Marín missed another, for Barcelona to win the Champions League.
So Close, Yet So Far
Yet another defeat to Barcelona – that’s 9 without a win – was pretty hard to take in the immediate aftermath, and the mood on the flight home from Sweden was pretty low. But, to put it in context, Sant Andreu had gone from the Spanish fourth tier 10 years ago, to being a penalty kick away from being European Champions. And that’s a pretty wild turnaround! And, on the plus side, the excellent Christoforou was named CL Young Player of the Season.
Reyes again led the way with 21 goals in 49 games, followed by Marín (15), Gogu (11), Pedro and Curri (8) and Iglesias (7). While Iglesias topped the assists with 15, followed by Marín (14), Curri (12) and Gogu and Pedro (10). Pedro deserves a shoutout for his performances as, having spearheaded the club’s drive from LaLiga 2 after being released by Barcelona, he had his best-ever season with 18 goal involvements and a club-high 7.27 rating, boosted by a 7.35 in the Champions League.
The club’s potential was further boosted by a strong youth intake led by three elite prospects in winger Pablo Guerrero, midfielder Lau Bermejo and full back Aran Herrera, along with centre back Iu Gascons, midfielder Dan Molés, Brazilian centre back Hueglo and Senegalese midfielder Mor Cissokho.
Aside from winning the Champions League, Turf Wars rivals FC Barcelona annoyingly also won LaLiga by 7 points from Atlético, only losing 3 games all season, and won Supercopa. It’s also worth noting the big club still spends four times more on wages than Sant Andreu and has a far older team
Could Sant Andreu continue to compete in the upper reaches of LaLiga? And how would they fare as they dropped back into the Europa League? Join us next Monday to find out!
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