Earning a spot at the FIFA Club World Cup was at the forefront of the Spaniard’s mind when he arrived in New Zealand to sign for City in January and he is now just 90 minutes away from achieving that goal. Auckland hold a slender 2-1 advantage over fellow finalists Amicale from the 1st leg and a 1-0 defeat would be enough to send them to Japan in December for the prestigious tournament and earn the club a US$500,000 pay cheque.
Exposito knows the job is far from done yet – Vanuatu’s Amicale showed enough in the 1st leg to prove they are more than capable of overturning the deficit – but is pleased to see his plans edging closer to fruition.
“That was the principle reason I came here – to play in the O-League and get to the Club World Cup,” he says. “Of course we wanted to win the national league as well but it was not possible unfortunately.”
Auckland missed out on the latter honour last weekend when they were beaten 3-2 by fierce rivals Waitakere United in the ASB Premiership grand final and have had to pick themselves up quickly to be ready for tomorrow’s season-defining O-League clash.
Although their need for goals is not as great as Amicale’s, Auckland co-coaches Ramon Tribulietx and Aaron McFarland have made clear their intentions to continue playing in the positive, possession-based style that has placed them on the verge of the FIFA Club World Cup.
Exposito, who scored from the spot during that 1st leg in Port Vila, could therefore by a key figure tomorrow. He and fellow frontmen Adam Dickinson and Daniel Koprivcic, City’s leading O-League scorer with three strikes, are likely to get plenty of service as Auckland look to dominate the game in front of their home fans and put the result beyond doubt as early as possible.
It would be fitting if Exposito struck the goals to take City to Japan – that is, after all, the reason he was brought down under.
“We thought we needed someone up front who could provide some goals for us,” says Tribulietx, who is also Spanish and coached Exposito at a lower division club when the pair were still both living in their homeland. “I thought he would be really good for us and that’s how it’s turned out. No disrespect to any of the other players because they have all performed really well but he has given us that extra bit of quality you always need.”
Exposito has been impressed by the standard of football in this part of the world and says City’s slick passing style has made it easy to adapt.
“New Zealand football is different from the game in Spain of course but it’s not necessarily better or worse, just different. I have tried to adapt as much as I can and it has been fairly easy because we play the same style I used to play in Spain. It’s all about possession and trying to create lots of scoring opportunities without needing to play long balls,” he says.
“It’s more physical here and you get a few more hard tackles. The Spanish game is more about skill and dribbling with the ball whereas here it’s based around strength. But the standard is good and there are many players who could go and play in Europe, especially in our team.”
Exposito’s own time in Europe began promisingly and he enjoyed a run of seven friendly matches for the Barcelona first team during his four years with the Catalan giants. He rubbed shoulders with the likes of Messi, Ronaldinho, Deco, Frank Rijkaard, Xavi and Andrés Iniesta and says those experiences will live long in the memory.
“It was amazing, you can’t even imagine what it’s like. I was thinking to myself, what I am doing here? It all happens very quickly and it’s only when you look back that you realise how special it was and say, ‘Man, I was playing with Messi, that’s crazy’.”
Exposito made his debut on the same day as a fresh-faced Messi – then just a pint-sized teenager but showing signs of the sublime skill that would see him become the best player on the planet – but a serious foot injury later kept him out of action for a year and a half and perhaps robbed him of the chance to carve out a professional career at the highest level.
“You can never say what would have happened but obviously not playing for that long makes it really hard,” he says. “When I came back it was not the same – I didn’t feel like I did before. I still needed another year or so to get my fitness and touch back again.”
He spent a season on loan under the tutelage of Tribulietx before leaving Barcelona for Atlético de Madrid, another club familiar to fans in all parts of the world. His time at Atlético was played out in the club’s reserve side and he jumped at the chance to link up again with Tribulietx and play first team football in an international competition.
Making the move to Auckland a lot smoother was the presence of a strong Spanish contingent at the Sandringham-based club. As well as Tribulietx and Exposito, City also have fellow Spaniards Angel Berlanga – who Exposito shares a house with – and Albert Vidal in the ranks.
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Tribulietx says the Spanish invasion came about more by chance than careful planning.
“With Manel, we sought him out and asked him to come but it was different with the others – they arrived on their own accord so it was like a bonus,” he says. “They got in touch with me on Facebook actually and said they were coming here to learn the language. They had played third division in Spain which is a pretty good level so we checked their references and I had a chat to some of my contacts in Spain. It was all good feedback so we decided to give them a run for a couple of weeks and signed them.”
Exposito is relishing the chance to learn more about Kiwi culture and spend time with his new team mates, something that wasn’t always possible within the illustrious confines of Barcelona.
“We would train together sometimes but guys like Ronaldinho are untouchable,” he says. “Superstars like that are living another life and it’s a different world. You can’t just ring them up and go out for a drink.”
The scenario will be somewhat different tomorrow evening if City can take advantage of their position and book a spot at the FIFA Club World Cup. The celebrations are sure to last long into the night and everybody will be involved.
2011 O-LEAGUE 2ND LEG FINAL PREVIEW

Auckland City [NZL] vs. Amicale [VAN]
Sunday 17 April
Auckland, New Zealand
Kiwitea St
Local kick-off: 2pm

Referee: Norbert HAUATA [TAH]
Assistant referee 1: Tevita MAKASINI [TGA]
Assistant referee 2: David CHARLES [PNG]
Fourth Official: TBC

Auckland City: 1. Jacob SPOONLEY [GK], 2. Angel BERLANGA, 3. Ian HOGG, 4. Sam CAMPBELL, 6. Stuart KELLY, 7. James PRITCHETT, 8. David MULLIGAN, 9. Manel EXPOSITO, 10. Luis CORRALES, 11. Daniel KOPRIVCIC, 12. Liam LITTLE [GK], 13. Alex FENERIDIS, 14. Adam DICKINSON, 15. Ivan VICELICH, 16. Albert VIDAL, 17. Adam McGEORGE, 22. Andrew MILNE, 23. Adam THOMAS
Coaches: Aaron McFARLAND and Ramon TRIBULIETX
Amicale: 1. Ernest BONG [GK], 3. Young PAUL, 4. Selwyn SESE ALA, 5. Richard ANISUA, 6. Nelson SALE, 7. Jean-Robert YELOU, 8. Jerry SHEM, 9. Dereck MALAS, 10. Batram SURI, 11. Fenedy MASAUVAKALO, 13. Gibson DAUDAU, 14. Moffat DERAMOA, 15. Alphonse BONGNAIM, 18. Richard GARAE, 19. Jack WETNEY, 22. Chikau MANSALE [GK], 25. Stanley WAITA, 29. Seimata CHILIA
Coach: Luke EROI