It had to be him: Lucas lifts Dépor from the well
After four years in the purgatory of the third tier, Deportivo La Coruña are back in the Segunda Division - and of course it was the home town hero who scored the goal which got them back there.
The third tier of Spanish football has often been called el pozo (the well), the reasoning being it’s easy to fall into, but tremendously hard to get out of.
Deportivo La Coruña found this out the hard way. In July 2020, just over 20 years on from their crowning glory of winning the La Liga title, they were relegated from the Segunda on a night where they couldn’t even play their final game due to opponents Fuenlabrada being hit by an outbreak of Covid-19. Their first attempt at bouncing back saw them closer to ending up in the fourth tier than the second. The next started well, but after the automatic promotion push fell short, a second opportunity in a playoff final at home to Albacete only brought more misery and an extra-time defeat. With the team needing lifted the following season, the January transfer window saw one of the biggest deals in the club’s recent history - bringing Lucas Pérez, the prodigal son, back for a third spell at Riazor.
It was a signing that got people talking all across Spain. Not only did he leave Cádiz, for whom he was playing regularly the top flight and was actually top scorer, he also paid half of his own buyout clause to make the deal happen. While for many players, La Liga is the target, he was leaving it all behind to play in the third tier. Because he wanted to play for Dépor.
He grew up in the A Coruña neighbourhood of Monelos idolising the players who brought Deportivo glory in Spain and in Europe but had to wait until he was 26 for his own chance to pull on the blue and white shirt after a nomadic career that had taken him to Alavés, Atlético Madrid, Rayo Vallecano, Kapaty Lviv, Dynamo Kyiv and PAOK. Home, the long way round.
He was an instant hero, scoring on his debut and going on to equal a club record for goals in consecutive La Liga matches that had previously belonged to Bebeto. But Deportivo were in debt and were unable to turn down a big-money offer from Arsenal and Lucas was on the move again. He won the FA Cup there and scored a Champions League hat-trick but wasn’t able to become a regular starter, so it wasn’t really a surprise when he returned home on loan at the start of the following season and although he scored nine goals in 37 appearances, he couldn’t prevent Dépor’s relegation to Segunda.
On he moved again, a brief stint at West Ham, back to Alavés where he had something of a revival in tandem with fellow well-travelled Galician frontman Joselu, briefly to Elche and then to Cádiz where he helped keep them up, scoring a winner at the Camp Nou in the process.
He could have stayed at Cádiz, plenty of other La Liga teams would have taken a player of his prowess, but he chose to go home and accept the greatest challenge of his professional career, lifting Dépor out of el pozo.
His impact was immediate, he scored twice on his debut, ticket sales increased and the club’s home and third shirts sold out within a matter of weeks but even he couldn’t totally transform the fortunes of a dysfunctional team, incapable of winning away from home, with an unpopular coach whose style of play seemed to stifle their more creative forces. The season again ended in farce, a playoff defeat to Castellón after goalkeeper Iain Mackay, one of the team’s captains and most experienced heads, lost his and punched an opponent with the game in the balance.
It was all change again, new sporting director, new coach, new players but Riazor still looked to Lucas. Yet the season didn’t exactly start off on the right foot. Dépor only won one of their first eight games, Lucas was sent off after half an hour of a 0-0 draw at home to Teruel, they conceded in the third and fifth minutes of stoppage time to see three points turn into zero at Fuenlabrada, Celta’s B team inflected another humiliating defeat at Riazor. A battling draw at Ponferradina in mid-October wasn’t enough to prevent Dépor slipping into the relegation zone.
That was the low watermark and things could only get better, although there were few signs of a side capable of a promotion push. Two results in December would prove key in the long run, a come from behind win over Barça Atlètic thanks to an injury-time winner and a 2-1 success at fellow Galician side Arenteiro in the last game before the break. Most expected manager Imanol Idiakez wouldn’t make it past the festive period, he himself admits that he had two suitcases packed, one as if he’d be continuing and one as if he’d be leaving.
Lucas hadn’t managed to score in the league throughout the first part of the season, but that was something he remedied within three minutes of the first game of 2024 and he added a second to secure a 2-1 win over Real Sociedad B. But next time out, Dépor were poor and beaten again, this time at Cultural Leonesa. They sat 6th, outside the playoff places and ten points off the top of the table.
They then faced consecutive games against the top two. Ponferradina were beaten at Riazor and then pride was restored at Balaidos with a 2-1 win over Celta B. In two weeks, the gap at the top had been cut in half.
In February, they really hit their stride and found their shooting boots. Four against Fuenla, five at SD Logroñes, four against Tarazona and Osasuna Promesas. Another four against Lugo at the start of March confirmed Dépor’s ascension to the top of the table, the first time in over two years that they’d occupied first position. Little did we know at the time, they wouldn’t relinquish it again all season.
They immediately faced a tough examination against a Nàstic side that looked like being one of their main rivals and in truth were a bit fortunate to hold on for a draw on that occasion. The following week, they trailed Sabadell at home and Lucas, carrying an injury, stepped up to take a penalty which would have levelled matters. But he slipped and missed the kick and Dépor had to rely on a last-minute equaliser to keep their unbeaten run going.
Without him other players stepped up, Yeremay, Barbero, Hugo Rama, to help guide Dépor through a tricky run of fixtures with maximum points and when Lucas returned against Cultural he made an instant impact, a superb strike from distance setting Dépor on the way to victory. Then at Sestão River he banished the memory of that penalty miss against Sabadell by scoring the only goal of the game from the spot, and as he celebrated, his teammates held him back from getting too involved as he would be at risk of a fifth booking which would rule him out of the next game.
He was needed. In front of a crowd of almost 33,000 at Riazor, the third time Dépor have beaten the attendance record for the third tier this season, he led his teammates into the field for a bona fide title decider against Barça Atlètic, the most stubbornly persistent of their challengers. And when, with 57 minutes on the clock, Dépor are awarded a free kick just outside the area, there isn’t any question who is going to take it. Lucas steps up, Riazor collectively holds its breath and when the ball hits the back of the net, it’s more than just a goal that they celebrate, it’s the cathartic release of the last four years. Fuenlabrada. Albacete. Castellón. All the pain, all the emotional baggage, ready to be cast away.
A Coruña will enjoy the celebrations, Lucas will too, with 12 goals and 17 assists, he has more than played his part this season. But the job isn’t done yet, in his presentation after rejoining the club, his stated ambitions weren’t just to help take the club out of the third tier, he knows that Dépor need to be back competing in La Liga.
“Aquí comeza outra historia” declared the club’s social media accounts minutes after victory had confirmed the much-sought after promotion. I’m looking forward to following that story next season in Segunda.