It has been a tough year for Espanyol, whose 24-year spell in La Liga came to an end earlier this year as they were relegated to the Segunda.
However, the Catalan club have enjoyed an upturn in fortunes in recent times and are enjoying a strong start to life in the second tier – sitting top of the standings with an impressive 42 points from their opening 19 matches.
Their star player is striker Raul de Tomas, who has scored 13 goals in just 17 starts this season and is proving hugely influential since joining the club from Benfica in a €20m deal in January.
That has led to Marca writing a piece comparing the prolific Espanyol front man to Barcelona striker Martin Braithwaite – with a poll of over 10,000 voters to date showing that 86 percent of respondents believing de Tomas is the better striking option.
Braithwaite has scored 18 goals in 71 games since moving to Spanish football – divided into 13 goals in 48 matches with Leganes and five goals in 23 outings for Barcelona, averaging a total of 0.25 goals per 90 minutes.
Main image via Marca
