Espanyol suffered with the same intensity with which they beat a great Sevilla. Matías Almeyda’s team came close to winning, but behind the sticks of the blue and white team a hero stood up: Dmitrovic. His saves, along with the goals from Pere Milla and Roberto, led Espanyol to add the three points despite a fast-paced final in which Sevilla, after a goal from Marcao, threatened the blue and white tranquility (2-1). Manolo González’s team recovers and extends the good streak at the start of the season and consolidates a fifth place in the league, tied – although surpassed by goal difference – with Betis.
2
Marko Dmitrovic, Carlos Romero, Omar El Hilali, Leandro Cabrera, Fernando Calero, Tyrhys Dolan (Antoniu Roca, min. 87), Edu Expósito (Pol Lozano, min. 61), Ramon Terrats (Roberto Fernández, min. 61), Urko González de Zárate, Pere Milla (Charles Pickel, min. 73) and Kike García (Jofre Carreras, min. 73)
1
Odysseas Vlachodimos, Marcão, Juanlu Sánchez, Gabriel Suazo, Andrés Castrín, Rubén Vargas (Alfon González, min. 53), Adnan Januzaj (Chidera Ejuke, min. 33), Peque Fernández (Alexis Sánchez, min. 70), Djibril Sow (Lucien Agoumé, min. 70), Batista Mendy (Nemanja Gudelj, min. 70) y Akor Adams
Goals
1-0 min. 47: Pere Milla. 2-0 min. 83: Roberto Fernandez. 2-1 min. 85: Marcao
Referee Miguel Sesma Espinosa
yellow cards
Edu Expósito (min. 49), Pere Milla (min. 70), Roberto Fernández (min. 84), Andrés Castrín (min. 93), Pol Lozano (min. 96)
And Espanyol came into the match with the statistics against them: 12 consecutive games without defeating Sevilla, since January 2017. Manolo González of his team, despite the last two defeats, cried out against the negativity of the press and criticized the match schedule. In the preview, Manolo also announced a very offensive eleven, a promise he kept. Accustomed to not repeating lineups, the blue and white coach sat Pol Lozano and brought on Ramon Terrats on the left wing, with Pere Milla as playmaker and Dolan on the right. He also recovered Carlos Romero at left back, and in front Kike García won the game against Roberto Fernández at the top.
The aggressiveness of the eleven was evident in Espanyol’s initial intensity. For 15 minutes, the blue and white attacked the Odysseas goal, with clear shots from Milla and Kike, and runs from Dolan. Manolo applauded his team, which combined perfectly and with great precision. Sevilla, for its part, apparently deceived that it did not find the key. Then, suddenly, the tables were turned. And Matias Almeyda’s team emerged.
Espanyol, without the ball, retreated back and let Sevilla advance, without generating much opposition, and without pressing. The blue and white losses were precipitated, and they were expensive: Dmitrovic saved the team on three consecutive occasions against the threat of Akor, Januzaj and Peque. They were not the only ones, much less the last, and the Serbian goalkeeper became the great hero of the night in Cornellá.
Although there were two more. At the beginning of the second half the start of the first was copied, and Pere Milla allowed his team to dream of victory by scoring the first goal of the match after a cross from Dolan. The goal gave Espanyol confidence to seek the end of the match with one more goal, which came from Roberto’s boots. The tranquility, however, did not last long. Sevilla, who exhausted the changes by renewing the entire midfield, also surrounded Dmitrovic’s goal, and two minutes after Roberto’s goal, Marcao jeopardized the blue and white victory with the score at 2-1. The end went crazy, with the RCDE Stadium demanding the end of the game. Espanyol, in suspense, endured the arrivals of Sevilla as best they could.
