Remembering the Tamudazo When Espanyol Dashed Barcelona's La Liga Title Dream
When Barcelona face Espanyol this weekend, they will be reminded of the 2006-7 title race and the Tamudazo which crushed their La Liga dreams seven years ago.
Raul Tamudo, the man who did the damage, no longer plays for Espanyol but he is always remembered when this fixture comes around.
The Catalan giants were facing their city rivals at the Camp Nou and the table was reminiscent of this seasonโs close three-way title race.
Real Madrid and Barcelona were level on points, heading into their respective fixtures on 72 points each, while Sevilla were third on 70.
It was the penultimate round of games for the season and any slip-ups would be extremely costly.
Everybody knew that if Barcelona and Madrid finished on equal points at the end of the season, then Los Blancos would win the title because of their superior head-to-head record against the Blaugrana.
Madrid had won 2-0 at the Bernabeu and the two sides had shared the spoils at the Nou Camp in a thrilling 3-3 draw.
Frank Rijkaardโs Barcelona team had Lionel Messi to thank then too, with the forward scoring a hat-trickโjust as he did in the recent Clasico.
On June 9, 2007, Rijkaardโs team lined up knowing that they almost certainly needed victory to take the title race down to the final game of the season.
Five of the players in the team that started on that day are still in the current squadโVictor Valdes, Carles Puyol, Xavi, Andres Iniesta and Messi.
Meanwhile, Fabio Capelloโs Real Madrid were playing against Real Zaragoza.
Travelling to La Romareda was a tough trip, but not one that many thought would actually prevent the Italianโs team from emerging with all three points.
By contrast to Barcelona, only Sergio Ramos and Iker Casillas remain in the Madrid squad from that day.
Sevilla, under Juande Ramos, were also away from home and facing RCD Mallorca.
Nobody really believed they would be able to win the title, such was the strength of La Ligaโs two traditional giants, but there were certainly contenders mathematically.
The games kicked off at 9 p.m. CET and had more plot twists than your most tangled Hollywood thriller. ย
Espanyol made the first impact, when Tamudo netted after 30 minutes.
The striker got on the end of a pass and bent the ball home past Valdes superbly, and into the top right corner, from just inside the box.
But within two minutes, Zaragoza took the lead against Real Madrid.
Centre-back Ivan Helguera clumsily felled Pablo Aimar as he burst into the area and referee Undiano Mallenco pointed to the spot.
Coincidentally, he was the same referee that Cristiano Ronaldo and Sergio Ramos complained about after last weekendโs Clasico.
Diego Milito sent Casillas the wrong way from the penalty spot and it left things as they were at the start of the day, except Sevilla were one point better off.
Then Messi made his mark, in a fashion that thankfully has been erased from his game today.
Barcelonaโs young star, back then only 19 years old, equalised for Barcelona in an illegal fashion.
Akin to Diego Maradonaโs โHand of God,โ the Argentine striker leapt into the air to punch a deflected cross beyond Idriss Carlos Kameni and into the net.
Espanyolโs furious players protested, but referee Julian Rodriguez Santiago was not interested in their complaints and Barcelona sat on top of the table.
Real Madrid pushed for more, creating a few chances, but they could not make the break through and we reached half time.
Barcelonaโs game restarted fractionally before Realโs did and they went for the jugular from the whistle.
Finally they took the lead against Espanyol, when Messi was slipped in on the right of the box.
He took the ball in his stride with his left foot and then rolled it into the bottom left corner with his right, in the 57thย minute.
Barcelona now had a three-point lead at the top of the table, on 75 points compared to Realโs 72 and Sevillaโs 70.
But Ruud van Nistelrooy had other ideas. The Dutch hitman powered a header into the ground and over Cesar in the Zaragoza net to level the scores at 1-1.
That brought Real up to 73 points with 56 minutes played at the Romareda.
But Milito struck again for Zaragoza in the 64thย minute. The forward cut inside with menace and drilled a low shot under Casillas to put his team 2-1 up.
News spread to the Nou Camp and fans started cheering in the stands.
Madrid pressed for another equaliser but nothing was forthcoming until the 89thย minute, when Van Nistelrooy struck again.
His goal, bundled home from virtually underneath the crossbar, meant Real were now level at 2-2 and back on 73 points.
Over to you, Espanyol.
In the final minute of the game, a low through ball found Tamudo on the right of the Blaugrana box.
He waited... and waited... and with Valdes coming out to meet him, eventually slid the ball home.
Dismay flooded the Camp Nou, while Madrid's players waited for news of the scores.
Robinho seemed like he was the first to get it and rushed to tell his team-mates of what has become known as the Tamudazo.
The suffix implies โgreat goal,โ but although it was nicely worked, the actual move was nothing incredibleโitโs the significance of it which was being recognised. In this case, more of a "great blow".
Tamudo had been at the club for many years and was on his way to becoming a legend there, but this sealed it.
Now 36 and playing for Sabadell, Tamudo will never be forgotten by Espanyolโs fans.
Tamudo holds the record for most La Liga appearances for Espanyol with 340 and top scorer in that competition with 129 goals, as per Football Espana.
He even scored against Barcelona in the previous La Liga tie that season, netting as Espanyol ran out 3-1 winners at home.
Tamudo will not be forgotten by Barcelonaโs fans eitherโthey have since booed him when he played at the Nou Camp as a Rayo Vallecano striker in March 2013.
It didnโt put him offโthe striker scored almost immediately on that occasion too, although it was happier for Barcelona as they ran out 3-1 winners.
Moving into the final day of the season, Barcelona and Madrid were joint top on 73 points, with Sevilla on 71.
Ramosโ side contrived to lose 1-0 to Villarreal and finished third, while Barcelona made no mistakes against Gimnastic, winning 5-1 away and finishing with 76 points.
But Real Madrid also triumphed, earning a 3-1 home win over Mallorca and lifting the La Liga trophy solely on that head-to-head record against Barcelona.
The Catalan side had a far better goal differenceโit was 19 goalsโbut the Tamudazo cost them.
Tata Martino will be anxious to prevent anything similar happening on Saturday afternoon at the Estadi Cornella-El Prat, especially after Madrid slipped up against Sevilla on Wednesday night.
