To be the first experience of both in the First Division bencheswith the common denominator of having been traditional options, legends of the house, for which their clubs opted in very complex situations, both Ruben Baraja as Luis Garcia have on their hands the most complex of challenges: escape relegation to Second Division. This Sunday they will meet again in mestalla with everything tied in their confrontations when they were Valencia and Espanyol players.
Three victories achieved each in their six clashes defending the shirts that this Sunday are measured with permanence as a dramatic objective. In one of those crashes, that of the April 16, 2006 in Mestalla, Baraja scored the final goal in the win for 4-0 against a parakeet team that arrived with the hangover of the Copa del Rey title won four days earlier. both scored In the next matchup, the 1-2 favorable to Espanyol October 6, 2007. A double made directly by Luis García in it 2-0this time in Montjuïc, from March 1, 2008; that afternoon he reached 50 goals in the First Division.
And neither of the two current coaches scored the last time they met, the May 3, 2009in a meeting that bears certain similarities with that of this Sunday because then, as so many times, Espanyol played permanence, at the Olympic Stadium. And he prevailed with a forceful 3-0with targets of Roman Martinez, Nico Pareja and Nene Carvalho, the latter from a penalty. The parrots, by the way, were saved.
Baraja-Luis García clashes
| Date | Game | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 04-12-2005 | Spanish-Valencia | 1-3 |
| 04-16-2006 | Valencia-Spanish | 4-0 |
| 06-10-2007 | Valencia-Spanish | 1-2 |
| 03-01-2008 | Spanish-Valencia | 2-0 |
| 12-13-2008 | Valencia-Spanish | 2-1 |
| 03-05-2009 | Spanish-Valencia | 3-0 |