Did Barcelona SC send Emelec to Serie B in 1980? The real story is this

Club Sport Emelec face the perilous prospect of finishing bottom of the 2023 Liga Pro tournament with three dates to go in the opening phase. Miguel Rondelli’s penultimate team (10 units, minus three), only a goal difference in one case and a minimum point distance in the other separate them from the teams that are in the relegation zone. Libertad’s score is 10 and minus four, and the basement is occupied by Mushuc Runa, with 9 and lapidary minus twelve.

And who can defend Emelec now? 2023, the year of the worst electrical numbers

Since the Apertura Championship in 2005 and the first round of the tournament in 2007, when they finished as penultimate and last respectively, the millionaires have not occupied such low positions in the rankings. How Emelec will finish in the first phase of the current season will depend on what they do in the Clásico del Astillero this Saturday and the following days.

Shipyard Classic | Barcelona vs. Emelec: Pro League’s top goalscorer against the team with the fourth-highest number of fences knocked down and a goalkeeper who resists

It is imperative for the electric team to collect as many points as possible in this round (they achieved only 27.77%) and to make significant progress in the second phase so that when the time comes for the summation, they will have the opportunity to avoid any inconvenience related to the possibility of losing the category.

Would Ismael Blanco, former Barcelona forward, lead Emelec? “I’m like Diego Maradona: it’s either black or white, never blue,” he replies.

an urban legend

And although the result of the duel with Barcelona SC will be far from definitively binding Emelec – the outcome of this season will be known in the 30th game of the year, when promotion and relegation are confirmed -, on the eve of the Astillero Clásico, they are repeating a distorted version of history on social networks. Toreador fans, as well as the sports journalism sector, claim that in 1980 there was a scenario similar to the current one.

an urban legend. A distortion generated by a deep sports rivalry. Confusion caused by the passage of time. Unconfirmed data. Vagueness. Any of these reasons could have led to the mistaken belief that after Emelec suffered a 4-0 defeat at the Estadio Modelo Emelec on 26 October 1980, Barcelona sent their traditional rivals straight into Serie B that day.

In that 1980 Classic, Barcelona, ​​​​the future monarch, ensured its presence in the league. Brazilian Ney Celestino punished the electricians with three goals, and the rest was scored by Juan Madruñero in the match corresponding to the 15th round of the so-called final stage (second stage). And although EL UNIVERSO predicted that the terrible defeat “could be a farewell to Emelec, who had a bad performance”, he emphasized: “Of course, there are three dates left and anything can happen. If in sports, especially in football, can talk about luck and miracles, only luck and a miracle would save a team of millions from losing the category”.

way to b

Emelec had to welcome Liga de Cuenca, visit El Nacional and close at home against América. After the defeat against Barcelona, ​​the team led by Carlos Alberto Raffo recovered. On November 2, 1980, they defeated the students of Morlacos University 1-0, with a goal by Lupo Quiñónez. However, the ‘miracle’ began to evaporate on the same day, in the preparatory match. Because? “The team of millionaires did not count on Everest to give a point to Deportivo Quito (0-0), another of the teams committed to relegation,” this newspaper writes in its review.

The situation became dramatic. The victory over Liga de Cuenca remained in the shadows because against chulla Everest remained true to its habit: it slipped as a host against clubs from other federations that were not from Guayas (the so-called Mountain Team used to not show the ferocity and combativeness towards foreigners as it exhibited against of his patio colleagues, so much so that in the final stage, Everest defeated Emelec 3-2 and drew 2-2 with Barcelona).

The Classic shipyard of alleged Emelecian origin is already a thing of the past. So EL UNIVERSO noted that “mathematically, Emelec and the team from Cuenca still have a chance to stay in the big streak, but with the way they are playing, it is very difficult for them to achieve their goal”.

a collection of clutter

As the brilliant monarch of 1979, Emelec was a tough contender in the first round of the tournament in 1980. In that event, it finished fourth, one field below the area that distributed league bonuses. He added 19 points, behind leaders Universidad Católica (21 points), Técnico Universitario and Barcelona (both with 20).

In the next phase, the blue crisis that was already looming broke out. There were terrible conflicts in the leadership (Omar Quintana left) and the gunner Carlos Miori left for América de Cali. Many signings failed, such as the manabit of Jorge Luis Devil Alarcón – who was suspended by the club towards the end of the campaign – whose pass was bought from Liga de Quito, which took Ricardo Armendáriz as ‘yapu’; also those of Mario Luizzi, Fernando Rodríguez Riolf and Rodulfo Manzo. There has been “inattention by players, partners and former managers, who are now huddled in Asoguayas doing nothing, because they don’t know how to do anything but chatter,” this newspaper complains.

Also, Edward Born Garcia, coach of the 1979 champions, resigned. To help with emergencies, he took over as coach on October 15, 1980 Skinny Raffo – one of the biggest millionaire symbols of all time. It was a heroic and loving gesture because at that time Emelec’s fate was identical to that of the ocean liner Titanic when it set sail from Southampton on its maiden voyage.

Goodbye, before El Nacional

And the fateful Sunday, November 9, 1980, the most painful date on the blue calendar, arrived for Emelec. Electricians visited the powerful military squad at the Atahualpa Olympic Stadium. On that day, the headline of the EL UNIVERSO note was: ‘Emelec today plays a division against EL Nacional’. The information insisted that “Emelec has played his last card. If he loses today, he says goodbye to the category. He would still be alive if he won the match.”

There was no miracle. “Two goals from Fabián Paz and Miño, in the 44th and 54th minutes, set Emelec on their way” to Serie B.

Several heroes of the return to the Olympic Games in 1979 lined up in Quito as the actors of the most catastrophic sporting moment of emelecista football: Miguel Onzari; José Marcelo Rodríguez (Miguel Cedeño), Rodulfo Manzo, Jorge Valdez, Humberto Cotto; Nelson Moraes (Xavier Delgado Pineda), Juan Carlos Gomez, Juan Falconi; Ubaldo Quinteros, Lupo Quinonez, Gonzalo Castañeda. From the blue bench, goalkeeper José Cedeño, midfielder Marcelo witnessed the tragedy. Colorado Hurtado and striker Félix Sabando.

Liga de Cuenca fell last with 13 points and a minus 18 goal difference. Emelec was penultimate with 14 units and minus 8. Deportivo Quito (14 and minus 2), the penultimate, saved themselves from leaving thanks to a unit scored against Everest. Emelec was in category B for one semester. It moved up to play in the second stage of the competition in 1981 (promotions were expected in the middle of the season). Before leaving, on the eighteenth date, the last one before the league, in Guayaquil Emelec said goodbye to Serie A with a 1-0 win over América de Quito on November 16, 1980. (D)