Two years ago, Zaragoza was the classic “too good to go down” team that did, in fact, go down to Spain’s second division.

The club was coming off a sixth place finish in 2006-07, and with the likes of Pablo Aimar, Sergio Garcia, Ricardo Oliveira and a not yet calcified Roberto Ayala leading the way, many expected big things from them the following season.

It all went wrong, however, and Zaragoza finished 18th.

Last season, the side finished second in the Segunda and came right back up. Of the three promoted sides – Xerez and Tenerife being the others – Zaragoza appeared to have the best chance of staying up.

But things rarely seem to go smoothly in Aragon, and this season has been no exception. Despite being one of the biggest spenders outside the Barcelona/Real Madrid duopoly, Zaragoza is known for mismanagement. The team sacked its manager Marcelino after a Dec. 12 home loss to Athletic Bilbao – its fifth straight match at the time without a win – much to the dismay of many of his players.

Jose Aurelio Gay took over but couldn’t stop the slide, as Zaragoza’s winless streak went from five to 10. It had fallen into the bottom three spots in the league.

With several teams clogged together in the bottom half of the table, though, all it would take to climb back out of the relegation zone was a couple wins. And that’s exactly what Zaragoza has done.

Following last weekend’s crucial 3-1 away win at fellow relegation battler Tenerife, Zaragoza had its finest moment of the season, deservedly defeating then-fourth place Sevilla, 2-1, at the Romareda. And it was the stable of new faces that helped lead it there.

While the rest of Spain stayed uninterestingly quiet during the January transfer window, Zaragoza signed a whopping seven new players – five of whom started against Sevilla. Another, in the form of Edmilson came off the bench.

Yes, that Edmilson, World Cup winner with Brazil and Champions League winner with Barcelona.

Veteran defender Matteo Contini, a rather surprising signing from Napoli, scored Zaragoza’s first at the half-hour mark. It was a deserved goal that came with the run of play, as Sevilla was lucky to not be down already at that point with Adrian Colunga somehow contorting to miss an empty net having already rounded keeper Andres Palop just minutes earlier.

Frederic Kanoute equalized three minutes after Contini’s opener, but Zaragoza went right back to work and went ahead in the 41st. It was an own goal from Sevilla striker Alvaro Negredo, but off a well-placed free kick from the right flank by Eliseu toward the head of Jiri Jarosik.

Incidentally, Eliseu and Jarosik are two more of those January signings. The only one that didn’t factor into the game at all was Roberto Gago, a backup keeper picked up on loan from Atletico de Madrid.

The new arrival we haven’t mentioned yet may be Zaragoza’s most important – Chilean striker Humberto Suazo. Making his first foray into European football after highly successful stints at Monterrey in Mexico and Chilean giant Colo-Colo, Suazo is a short bull of a man with a nose for goal. Against Sevilla, he wasn’t afraid to mix it up in the box and showed a deft touch on the ball.

It was Suazo who kicked off Zaragoza’s remarkable comeback against Tenerife, converting a penalty in the 77th minute to tie the game at 1-1.

After these two wins, Zaragoza is out of the drop zone with 20 points, two ahead of 18th place Valladolid – Zaragoza’s next opponent, on the road this Sunday.

What does the rest of the season have in store? We’ll know a lot more after this weekend, but one thing is for sure. For all its ups and downs, Zaragoza makes La Liga a lot more interesting.

The rest of this weekend’s results:
Valencia 2-0 Valladolid (los Che keep rolling; Valladolid is the latest side to have Spain followers wondering, “Are they doomed?”)

Barcelona 2-1 Getafe (Gerard Pique sent off 25 minutes in, and it doesn’t matter – a wonder goal from Lionel Messi and another from Xavi mean the Catalans have gone 21 league games this season without a loss.)

Real Madrid 3-0 Espanyol (Gonzalo Higuani comes off the bench for his first action in nearly a month and scores. Are you watching, Diego Maradona?)

Almeria 3-1 Sporting Gijon (Almeria continues its climb away from the relegation zone, while Sporting continues its freefall toward it.)

Athletic Bilbao 3-2 Xerez (Fernando Llorente saves the Basques from embarrassment with two goals in the last half hour.)

Malaga 0-0 Deportivo la Coruna (Depor manages all of zero shots on goal and are lucky to escape with a point.)

Mallorca 1-0 Villarreal (The magic continues at the Ono Estadi, thanks to a goal nine minutes from time from Nunes. That’s 10-for-10 at home for Mallorca.)

Osasuna 1-0 Tenerife (That’s four wins in a row for Osasuna, with just one goal conceded in that stretch.)

Zaragoza 2-1 Sevilla

Racing Santander 1-1 Atletico de Madrid (Not a bad bounce-back for Racing after suffering a 4-0 hammering to Atletico midweek in the first leg of the Copa del Rey semifinals.)

The table (through 21 matches):
Barcelona, 55 points; Real Madrid, 50; Valencia, 42; Mallorca, 37; Sevilla, 36; Deportivo, 35; Athletic, 33; Getafe, 31; Osasuna, 29; Villarreal, 26; Racing, 25; Atletico, 24; Sporting, 24; Espanyol, 23; Almeria, 22; Malaga, 21; Zaragoza, 20; Valladolid, 18; Tenerife, 17; Xerez, 11

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