He made his La Liga debut on 11 April 1999 when he played injury time against Real Zaragoza at the age of 18,[2] thus becoming the first player to have represented the club in all categories.

[5] Lopo would remain a starter under several managers – Juande Ramos, Javier Clemente, Luis Fernández and Miguel Ángel Lotina – until his departure, earning in the process a reputation as a superb but excessively rough defender.

[9] But although he was out of contract, Espanyol eventually started a court case to get financial compensation (an amount of €5.6 million was mentioned) for having educated the player in its youth system.

[10] In his first season, Lopo continued as always, playing 31 times and receiving a total of 11 yellow cards (this included a double one at home against RC Celta de Vigo;[11] he was also sent off in the cup with Real Valladolid).

[12] He initially formed a stopper partnership with Álvaro Arbeloa but, after the latter was sold to Liverpool, it was Jorge Andrade who accompanied him at the back: that defence, with Capdevila and Fabrizio Coloccini at the sides and Dudu Aouate as goalkeeper, kept 16 clean sheets in 38 matches, and many of the points won were based on the defensive performance of a team not capable of scoring sufficient goals.

[14] Lopo's status at the club increased significantly in the summer of 2007, as Juanma and Andrade both left the Estadio Riazor, the former on a free transfer to CD Tenerife whereas the latter was sold to Juventus FC – he himself confirmed that Deportivo rejected a €5 million offer from Real Zaragoza for him.