Espanyol assaults Vallecas and comes back to life

When hardly anyone believed. When it was needed most. When it was only worth winning to be able to continue breathing, Espanyol achieved three gold points. Three points to believe. Three points to extend an illusion so many times frustrated. Led by a heroic Sergi Darder once again, who left crying after suffering so much, Luis García’s men are only one point away from salvation with three days still to play. After so much suffering, the miracle does not seem far from impossible.

Espanyol got on the absurd roller coaster once again to recreate another show full of reprehensible distractions and embarrassing lack of concentration in the first half. He learned from his mistakes against Barça Luis García, who in another of the most difficult fields to win this season decided to protect his full-backs by withdrawing a central defender, César Montes was the sacrificed one, and reinforcing the wings. I recover the anchor figure with the entry of Calero and the team took time to feel comfortable with this new skin.

Iraola’s team, which is fighting for Europe, came out with much greater determination and drowned out the blue and whites in a very dizzying first quarter of an hour in Vallecas. Madrid monopolized possession while the team had enough to take the pressure off. Contrary to what Luis García defends, it would take more than twenty minutes to give three passes in a row to the despair of Darder.

The local offensives were almost always directed towards the left wing. It coincided that the Garcías (Fran and Álvaro) make up one of the most dangerous gangs in the League with the presence of Oscar Gil, a usual suspect at Espanyol. Trejo governed the game between the lines, but De Tomás could not find a frank shot.

The game was thanking the prudence of Espanyol and Rayo began to get stuck. The usual errors in the ball out of the parakeets were penalized in the form of counterattacks, but rarely meant danger to Pacheco’s goal. And the first time Denis and Melamed teamed up, the blue and whites discovered a new world. The ball reached Brian Oliván with an advantage on the wing, and his cross, after a rebound, sent it to Darder’s goal with a dry shot. Espanyol made it easy for once and the captain got away with it, who has always fought the most for the salvation of this team.

The goal gave Espanyol peace of mind, but the errors at the start never stopped. Sergi Gómez, Calero and Oscar Gil had a terrible afternoon and rarely managed to help their team. In one of those oversights, the right-back touched the ball in the area when there was hardly any risk. The penalty was converted by De Tomás, hypermotivated in front of his former team. The parakeet team lost the advantage too soon and too easily.

At the restart, whoever wanted it the most, this time, was Espanyol. Melamed had two free shots in which he did not show the necessary fierceness. In a new spark from the local left wing, Isi finished off the penalty spot without opposition, but the winger sent the ball sky high. In the following action the parakeet team penalized that mistake. Again Darder, immeasurable once again, appeared in the middle and began to overcome rivals. A mixture of pride and talent, the man from Artà stopped on the front line and sent the ball to the post. When the opportunity seemed lost, Melamed appeared there to do the second. The youth squad player faced the local crowd, which inflamed the local fans even more.

There were many minutes left, but Luis García understood that nothing else could happen and withdrew Calero and Sergi Gómez. Espanyol defended better despite the desperate harassment of their rival. He had the third handful in a one-on-one that Vallecas silenced. Until the end, it could not be otherwise, Espanyol suffered.