The Painful Law of the Ex Frustrates Elche in Almería

Elche was left without the reward of leadership in Almería (1-1) in the most frustrating manner imaginable. Eder Sarabia's team demonstrated a high level of play in recent months against a direct rival, outperforming them in every aspect and took the lead thanks to a goal by Salinas. Everything seemed in their favour with the expulsion of the local player Selvi midway through the second half, but then problems arose. Elche lost their shape, became unjustifiably fearful of continuing their style of play, and were harshly punished as former player Arnau Puigmal scored a stunning goal in the 85th minute to level the score.

The draw leaves Elche still with aspirations, as the top five teams are separated by just one point, but with a clear sense that a golden opportunity was missed to make a statement away from home against one of the best squads in the league. The performance of the franjiverde team in Almería was particularly commendable because they could not count on their two most decisive attackers from the first half of the season: Yago Santiago and Nico Fernández Mercau. The former will not play again this season due to a severe knee injury, and the latter continues to struggle with muscle discomfort in recent weeks.

At the end of the Almería clash, Sarabia did not hide his frustration: "We were not good with one less. I am angry, very angry, because we cannot do so many things well and not win by a landslide. We lacked courage with and without the ball in the eleven against ten. By chances, it was a match to have won, but it doesn't count because opportunities don't come back. I don't think many teams have come here over many years and, despite playing the great game we did, couldn't get past one to one. We need to show a bit more pride because it was important to win here and make a statement. Everything we did spectacularly for an hour, we stopped doing with one more," lamented the Basque coach.

Despite the frustration over the points lost against a direct rival, Sarabia was confident that Elche will play in the First Division next year: "I am very clear about it, I have told the players that we are going to achieve it (promotion). Because yes, because we are going to achieve it. I know there will be many teams and it will be extremely difficult, but I have tremendous confidence. Not everyone can play with the authority we showed today against a team like Almería, which has such great players. Tomorrow we train again to go against Cartagena with everything and keep making progress."