Wednesday, 4 November 2026
Deportivo carry a dependency into Saturday that two wins cannot disguise: Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang has five goals in La Liga and the Copa del Rey combined this season, the next-highest contributors — Mario Soriano Carreno, Luismi Cruz, Jonathan Asp Jensen, and Bil Nsongo — each with two. The 2-1 home win over Osasuna at Riazor two days ago tested that reliance in both directions, because it was Soriano Carreno who equalised in the 64th minute, assisted by Luismi Cruz, and Nsongo who settled it in the 87th — a result, per Sofascore, decided by two of the squad's secondary scorers doing the work Aubameyang usually owns. That matters as a shape question, not just a headline: when goals arrive from deeper in the rotation, the XI carries less structural weight on a single forward. RCDE Stadium on Saturday, against an Espanyol side sitting 14th on 11 points with a negative goal difference, is where that distribution is tested under conditions that favour Deportivo — three points above them in the table and with the momentum of back-to-back wins — and where the answer to whether Nsongo and Soriano Carreno can share the attacking load, or whether Aubameyang remains the singular decision, will become clearer.