FALSE 10: Next stop for the bus driver with a short fuse - Champions League!

The irritating alarm kept slicing the quiet dawn as Manolo, still dazed with his eyes closed, was trying to reach the damn phone in the dark and silence it.

It was Saturday, 5 am, about time for the 38-year-old bald bus driver to get up, dress himself up and start his ordinary route at the Interurbano - public transport in the broader area of Barcelona.

Jose Manuel Gonzalez Alvarez, or simply and shortly, Manolo, used to live two parallel lives for years by that time.

From the moment the alarm would abruptly end his sleep until around 4 pm, he was an ordinary driver we see every day in public transport. You know them, we all know them: a slightly bad-tempered, sweaty bloke, with a towel around his neck, who constantly complains about those "little bastards" on motorbikes - boda-bodas and others - that keep getting into his lane straight from the dead angle. And look at those roads, I mean, just look at them - he would then point at one of those holes that the city council promised to repair ages ago, before embellishing his rant with the inevitable sound of a bus horn.

That same routine kept repeating itself day after day, month after month, year after year... But, you know, man has to pay the bills and rent, and it's a decent job after all, stable if nothing else.

That's why all those years you could see Manolo behind the steering wheel until the end of his shift, before getting onto a local train and rushing to his only passion. Football.

After suffering a devastating knee injury that prematurely ended his career at a very young age, Manolo began coaching at a local side, Martinenc, as a 16-year-old teenager. A kid teaching even younger boys.

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And, little by little, the adventure transformed into true love as Gonzalez refused to let go. He was aware that the path would be long and, probably, could reach a dead end at some point, but he never gave up.

A bus driver during the day, a football coach at night. And it went like that for years.

Until one day in 2018, when he finally asked the bus company for a leave of absence.

"I would get up at five, drive the route, finish my shift at four-ish, train, get home at eight. When I did my coaching badges, I worked nights. People see all this now, but not what's behind it," he explained in a recent interview with The Guardian.

However, to reach that "now" and to become Manolo The Coach, he had to gamble and go all-in, which he did with the support of his family.

More importantly, he was as patient as it gets, having coached at every age group and every level in Spain, from the regional league to those higher tiers of Spanish football hierarchy.

The crucial moment, a genuine breakthrough came in 2020, just shortly before the coronavirus outbreak, when he knocked out Jose Bordalas' Getafe of the Copa del Rey. Manolo, already 41 at the time, did it with a third-division team, Badalona.

Interestingly, though, he didn't finish that larger-than-life game in the dugout, since the referee Mateu Lahoz sent him off in the first half because of his short fuse. What's allowed in everyday traffic is not legal on the football pitch.

Still, that was a major upset, which brought him, finally and deservedly, into the spotlight, and there was no turning back. Manolo's bus, figuratively speaking, of course, was destined to go in a single direction - up.

Three years later, he was appointed manager of Espanyol B, due to his hard work and impressive results. Offensive football, shaped into a 4-2-3-1 formation, cleared the road for Gonzalez to get to the highest point possible in 2024 - he became the permanent boss of Espanyol's first team.

"In the places I've been until now, I've almost had to sweep out the dressing room," he said. "When Espanyol call you, everything else becomes irrelevant. In terms of enthusiasm, desire and commitment, there will be no problem. It's been many years of grinding it out to reach a place like Espanyol, which I've had marked as my reference club since I was a kid," he concluded then.

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Alas, there was a catch - they were in the La Liga 2, and there was a single way to keep that job. To get them promoted into La Liga.

"For me, that was a lottery," he says. "The right place at the right time. You think: 'They won't put me in. How can they put in the bloke from the B team when they have to go up?' It's life or death, because it really was life or death. But they asked if I think I'm capable, and I said: 'Of course.' The players believed; if not, you're done, you're screwed," admitted Manolo much later.

The picture you see above the headline was taken after the match against Oviedo in June 2024, as ecstatic fans and players carried him on their arms before throwing him into the air (which you can see below).

A deserved glory for Manolo (©Gallo images)

Stoickhov has done it - although a Real Madrid fan, he got his nickname after a Barcelona legend, who, aside from his extraordinary skills, was remembered for his short fuse, too.

And some remarkable results, including La Liga titles and the Champions League crown.

Manolo Gonzalez, 46, still has a very long way to go to such heights, but for him, even the fact that Espanyol are currently fifth, just two points away from the UCL qualification, is beyond a dream.

The best possible test of their current capacities is tonight's city derby against Barca (11 pm).

That one superfast, capricious kid will attack him from dead angles, trying to exploit a dead spot in Manolo's defence. Don't expect him to watch it from the touchline silently, because he already had an interesting exchange with Lamine Yamal last time the two sides met...

"I told him he just threw himself to the ground, that's all. To stop throwing himself and being provocative. I didn't say he was a great player at the time, but that's my opinion of him".

Perhaps it's not an exceptionally stable job, and Manolo may still get up quite early on Saturdays, but this morning his alarm rang to wake him on time to prepare for Yamal and Barcelona.

Next station - Champions League!

By: BOJAN BABIC

LA LIGA - MATCHDAY 18

Friday

Rayo Vallecano - Getafe 1-1 (1-0)

/De Frutos 45+1 - Arambarri 90/

Saturday

16.00: (2.00) Celta (3.50) Valencia (4.20)

18.15: (2.90) Osasuna (3.05) Ath.Bilbao (2.65)

20.30: (3.35) Elche (3.50) Villareal (2.25)

23.00: (5.65) Espanyol (4.60) Barcelona (1.53)

Sunday

16.00: (1.80) Sevilla (3.70) Levante (5.00)

18.15: (1.50) Real Madrid (4.70) Betis (6.95)

20.30: (1.90) Alaves (3.45) Oviedo (4.80)

20.30: (2.30) Mallorca (3.25) Girona (3.25)

23.00: (4.00) Sociedad (3.45) Atl.Madrid (1.95)

***odds are subject to change***