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Surprise as Espanyol sack coach Sergio

Xinhua, December 15, 2015 Adjust font size:

Spanish BBVA Primera Liga club, Espanyol announced they had sacked coach Sergio Gonzalez on Monday after slightly less than a season and a half in charge.

Sergio leaves after a run of just one win in eight matches which have left Espanyol 12th in the table with 17 points from 15 games.

The club announced his sacking with a communique which thanked him for his time in charge and said he was "one of us," but the feeling is that it is a harsh decision taken against a man who took over in the summer of 2014 after being promoted from the B-team and led a limited squad to a comfortable mid-table finish and qualified for the semi-finals of the King's Cup knockout season.

This summer saw Espanyol lose key players such as Christian Stauni, Sergio Garcia, Kiko Casilla and Lucas Vazquez, the last two of whom joined Real Madrid, and the club did not replace them with signings of similar quality.

The club got off to a bad start to the season, losing 6-0 at home to Real Madrid and was bought by the Chinese company Raster Group at the start of November.

It is likely the Rastor Group will invest money in new players in January and rumors suggest the Rumanian, Constantin Galca, another former Espanyol player will be Sergio's replacement. Endit