There, they face La Liga’s bottom club, on seven points from 14 games, but Huesca’s ascent began far lower down than that.
The majority of their 58-year history has been spent between the third and fourth tiers. They were languishing in Segunda B as recently as 2015.
Promoted to the top flight for the first time at the end of last season, Huesca prepared by overhauling their squad, but on a shoe-string budget, with a mix of players from the lower divisions, promising youngsters and old heads from abroad.
They changed coach too, twice, after Rubi was poached by Espanyol, who are now seventh. He was replaced by Leo Franco, who only lasted until October. Then in came Francisco, who is yet to see a victory.
Some of the promotion team remained, including top scorer Alex Gallar. He joined in 2017 after spells at Cultural Leonesa, Hercules, Cornella and Mallorca’s B team, all four sides in the third tier.
“When I came here, it was not the main objective to go up to the top flight but we did it,” Gallar said. “It was a very good decision to come here.”
One of his three goals this term came against Barcelona at the Camp Nou. Huesca scored twice there, including the opener, but Barca finished with eight.
This, though, will be Huesca´s first time hosting either of Spain´s two grandees and a chance for the fans to ponder on how far their team has come.
“We have seen people are behind us despite the results and pushes us to turn it around,” Francisco said last week. “Our home has to be a fortress.”
In the summer of 2013, Real Madrid bought Gareth Bale for a world record 100 million euros while Huesca signed seven players, all for nothing.
Madrid are in good form and Bale, again, has a point to prove. He came off in the second half of last weekend´s win over Valencia, rubbing his thigh, while Santiago Solari said afterwards he was “exhausted”.
It was Bale’s tenth La Liga game without scoring, even if that run masks some decent performances under Solari, including two goals and an assist in the Champions League.
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