Michel Pineda, former RCD Espanyol forward, died at the age of 62. The club announced his death on Thursday, remembering his role as one of the team's top scorers during the 1980s. Pineda was a key player in Espanyol's third-place finish in the 1986-87 season under Javier Clemente and in the historic 1987-88 UEFA Cup campaign, when the club reached the final and lost to Bayer Leverkusen.
The forward arrived at Espanyol in the summer of 1984 from Auxerre, where he had formed a friendship with Éric Cantona. Born in 1964 in France, Pineda was the son of parents from Vitoria who emigrated to France in the sixties. At the age of 20, upon arriving in Barcelona, he reflected to the press that the footballer's glory is ephemeral and that his time of splendor passes soon. That same year, the attacker revealed that he had suffered the loss of his father at the age of 15 and the death of a brother, experiences that had matured him.
During his time at Espanyol, Pineda played 233 games and scored 73 goals, leaving an indelible mark on the fans. After leaving the club in 1990, he played for Toulon, Racing de Santander, Lleida and Alavés, retiring in 1996. One of the most remembered anecdotes is the goal he scored on June 23, 1993 against Espanyol, which caused the club to be relegated to the Second Division; In the match, the forward did not celebrate and cried on the grass out of respect for the team he had represented.
Pineda's legacy lives on in the memory of Espanyol fans, who remember him as a player who knew how to look beyond the triumphs and defeats, and who left deep roots in Sarrià.