The lowdown on Cádiz CF
Following the 1-1 draw with Granada, Barça go straight back into the fray against another Andalusian club on Thursday (10.00pm CEST). Let’s take a closer look at the team that grace the Nuevo Mirandilla.
Where are they from?
Cádiz is a city in the southwest corner of Spain, in Andalusia, and is one of the oldest continually inhabited places in the whole of Europe. Steeped with history, its location means it has always had a close connection with naval history and particularly the first explorations of Africa and the Americas.
Its Carnival celebrations are among the best known in the world. The people of Cádiz are famed throughout Spain for their friendliness and open sense of humour, and for having one of the hardest accents for outsiders to understand!
History
Formed in 1910, the club didn’t play any first division football until 1977 but went on to spend the best part of a decade and a half at the elite level, albeit never finishing any higher than twelfth. That golden era ended in 1993 and since then they have only spent one season, 2005/06 in LaLiga and went straight back down afterwards. They finally returned in 2020, and this time did manage to hold onto their place.
The Stadium
Cadiz have played at the same venue since 1955 (with a game against FC Barcelona). However, between 2003 and 2012, the entire structure was replaced in phases, and what is effectively a brand new stadium now holds 20,724.
Although the stadium has always been known as the Estadio Ramón de Carranza, in June of this year it was announced that in application of the Law on Historical Memory, it would have to be renamed due to the association between Ramón de Carranza, the former mayor of Cadiz, and the fascist regime. Following a vote among club members, the new name is the Nuevo Mirandilla, after the ground where the club formerly played between 1933 and 1955.
Form guide
After finishing a more than respectable 12th last season, winning games against both both Real Madrid and FC Barcelona, Cadiz failed to win any of their first four games in 2021/22 but finally broke their duck at the weekend with a 2-1 win at Celta.
Cadiz 1-1 Levante
Real Betis 1-1 Cadiz
Cadiz 2-3 Osasuna
Cadiz 0-2 Real Sociedad
Celta 1-2 Cadiz
Curiously, they have been performing better on the road than they have at home, where so far they have only collected one out of a possible nine points.
Head-to-head
This will only be the 27th time that these sides have ever met in LaLiga. And Barça have only ever suffered three defeats. The first was a 1-0 win for Cadiz back in 1982, and the second was a 4-0 win in 1991, but Barça were taking things easy for that one having already won the title.
But after a run of ten straights wins dating back to 1989, and scoring 33 goals and conceding just four in the process, the Catalans suffered a shock 2-1 defeat in Cadiz in December of last year, and were also held to a 1-1 draw at Camp Nou. Barça have never gone three games without a win against Cadiz, and let’s hope the record holds.
The players
International caps
Varazdat Haroyan (Armenia, 60), Anthony Lozano (Honduras, 35); Álvaro Negredo (Spain, 21); Carlos Akapo (Equatorial Guinea, 17); Santiago Arzamendia (Paraguay, 14); Tomás Alarcón (Chile, 7); Jens Jønsson (Denmark, 3); Milutin Osmajić (Montenegro, 1)
Barça connections
Central defender Fali spent a period on loan to Barça B while on the books at Gimnastic Tarragona.
Winger Alberto Perea was at Barça B in the 2016/17 season, joining Cadiz at the end of the campaign.
Honduran striker Anthony ‘Choco’ Lozano was at Barça B in the 2017/18 season, playing 20 games and scoring 4 goals before leaving for Girona.
Top scorers 2020/21 (all competitons)
Álvaro Negredo 8, Alex Fernandez 4, Cala 3, Anthony Lozano 3
The boss
Mallorca, Racing Santander and Valencia were Álvaro Cervera’s main clubs as a player, and he even appeared four times for Spain. He has coached many clubs, but his only previous first division experience was a short and unsuccessful spell at Racing Santander (including a 2-0 defeat to Barça). It’s all been roses so far at Cádiz, whom he guided up through two tiers to end their 14-year wait to return to the first division.