Realistically, it’s been a couple of matchdays—maybe even more—since Andorra had anything at stake. The defeat against Albacete ended their hopes of reaching the playoffs, but in truth, Carles Manso’s side already faced an almost impossible task. Despite that, the team hasn’t taken their foot off the gas and remains determined to finish the season as strongly as possible. Their collective goal is to surpass the 59 points Sarabia achieved in his first season in professional football. But beyond that, they could end up deciding who moves up to Primera.
Of course, the teams that get promoted will do so on their own merits, not because they beat or lost to Andorra. But the schedule has it that Manso’s side will face rivals with plenty on the line in this final stretch. This past weekend, for example, they thrashed Las Palmas 5-1—a team fighting for a playoff spot. A month earlier, they beat Racing Santander 6-2, the main candidate for direct promotion. Now they face Deportivo, who sit second, at Riazor. Depor won’t get promoted this round whether they win, draw, or lose, but Racing Santander could—if Andorra get a good result in Riazor and Racing beat Valladolid. For Santander to seal their return to the top flight this week, they also need Almería to slip up.
An Andorra win wouldn’t just leave Racing with one foot in Primera; it could also knock the Galicians out of the automatic promotion places with two games left in the regular season. The Segunda playoff is notoriously tough, and the Galicians’ clear objective is to avoid it—the complete opposite of Burgos, who are fighting to get into the top six. And it will be against Andorra, in the final match, that Burgos’ playoff fate is likely decided. In between these two games, there’s an Andorra-Ceuta match where neither team has anything to play for except pride.
