Jon Rojo’s 121st-minute strike at Las Llanas on Tuesday was still being celebrated by a fourth-tier side when Espanyol’s board decided they had seen enough. By the end of the night, the club had confirmed that González’s time at the RCDE Stadium was over.

The script in the Basque Country was brutal. Espanyol twice let their lead slip against a club four divisions below them in the Spanish pyramid, before Roberto’s 91st-minute penalty forced extra time. Rojo pounced on a rebound from goalkeeper Marko Dmitrović in the final seconds to seal the shock for Sestao, a Segunda Federación side playing on their modest Las Llanas pitch.

The club’s statement was short. “Manolo González is no longer the coach of Espanyol,” it read, thanking the Spaniard for his work and wishing him luck.

A league collapse that preceded the cup shock

The cup exit was the trigger, not the cause. Espanyol sit 18th in La Liga with just eight points from ten matches, according to beIN Sports, and González had lost five of his final six games in charge. The relegation trapdoor was already open; Sestao simply pushed him through it.

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González had earned the gratitude he was offered on his way out. Appointed in March 2024, he took Espanyol up from the Segunda División within months and kept the club in the top flight through a full 2024-25 campaign. His 107 matches in charge made him, by Catalan standards, something close to a long-serving coach.

That history did not survive contact with Rojo’s rebound. González told Goal after the final whistle that he was “completely shattered” and called it “one of the worst days of my life.”

No successor named, Villarreal next

Espanyol have not announced a replacement. The next fixture is a La Liga home game against Villarreal on Friday, 30 October, with the dugout question still open and the club two points off the drop zone.

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