Espanyol II

The training ground that RCD Espanyol built there carries the name of Daniel Jarque, and the small stadium inside it — 1,520 seats — is where the reserve side plays.

The team did not begin in Sant Adrià, or as a reserve side at all. It began in 1981 as FC Cristinenc, in Santa Cristina d'Aro on the Costa Brava. The link with Espanyol came at the start of the 1990s, first as a change of name, then in 1994 as an outright purchase: the parent club took over the entity and, with it, the Tercera División place it held. The title followed in the first season under the new name, and two more came later, in 2008–09 and 2017–18.

Those promotions have a ceiling written into them. A reserve side cannot climb into a division where the senior team already plays, so the ambition here is measured differently — in who leaves. Jarque himself came through, as did Raúl Tamudo. More recently Javi Puado made the same journey from the Ciutat Esportiva to the first team.

The fixture that draws a crowd is the one against Barça Atlètic, the reserve derby, the same rivalry as above. The blue and white are inherited, and so is the nickname: Los Periquitos, the parakeets.

Espanyol B now play in the Segunda División RFEF, the fourth tier. In 2014–15 they reached the semi-finals of the Copa RFEF, which remains the furthest the club has gone in the competition.