Football is the legs and the head, also confidence and faith, which can well act as a driving force for both things. And in the Ciutat de València two teams were measured that suddenly have believed, above all, screwed in the positions of Europe after years of hardships. But Levante is also with the green arrow and upwards since the arrival of the Portuguese coach Luís Castro, who in just a couple of weeks has given new energy to the team, from the system to the extras, from the attitude to football, which is why it has already made it Equal in ambition and performance, the tables defined a logical result that makes Levante see that salvation is possible and Espanyol that Europe is not a chimera.
1
Mathew Ryan, Jeremy Toljan, Diego Pampín, Matías Moreno, Adrián de la Fuente, Carlos Álvarez (Jon Olasagasti, min. 78), Kervin Arriaga (Unai Vencedor, min. 78), Pablo Martínez, Iker Losada (Carlos Espí, min. 64), Kareem Tunde (José Luis Morales, min. 87) and Iván Romero (Karl Etta Eyong, min. 87)
1
Marko Dmitrovic, Leandro Cabrera, Fernando Calero, Carlos Romero, Omar El Hilali, Urko González de Zárate, Jofre Carreras (Ramon Terrats, min. 68), Edu Expósito, Tyrhys Dolan, Kike García (Roberto Fernández, min. 60) and Pere Milla (Javi Puado, min. 68)
Goals
0-1 min. 52: Carlos Romero. 1-1 min. 54: Iker Losada
Referee César Soto Grado
yellow cards
Kike García (min. 45), Ferreira de Castro (min. 93)
He went out into the field, as if being in the catacombs of the table were an incentive and not a sentence. Mental question. And the staging was delicious, few touches and many meters, quick counters, passes behind the backs of the opposing sides, opportunities galore. Kareem Tunde – who came through the Espanyol youth team, also from Barça – tried twice, but on one occasion he missed his aim because the ball whispered against the post; and in the other he had Dmtrovic left over, who made a filmic stretch. Iker Losada also tried it, but the ball did not hit the goal. Clicks of lamentation from the stands and wild applause for Carlos Álvarez, who pulled the strings from the midfielder, billing cons. Curiously, from the other side of the net Espanyol did not break down, sober gestures and no fuss, determined to mature the game because nothing was ever easy for them, determined to make the areas their loot, with Calero immeasurable in their own and with Kike García in the rival.
That and, of course, the origin and until the end of the plays because he went down to receive to build, while at the same time he stepped into the rival area to define. A shot at the tangle of rivals; another denied by Matthew Ryan; one more intermingled, at the rival’s legs and the goalkeeper’s gloves; and one last one over the top after a center-shot from Jofre. His judgment and appearance, his persistence in relating to the ball, was enough to return Espanyol to the game, one in which Kike García also wanted to leave his mark, who fought even with his shadow, always in search of the shot. A warning that half a mistake could be a whole punishment. But the intermission was reached without goals, Espanyol able to reduce the rival fierceness, perhaps because faith moves mountains. And with Manolo González on the bench, even mountain ranges.
Something that Carlos Romero clarified shortly after, after a counterattack promoted by Jofre that sank the opposing defense. His center didn’t go any further, but Romero, who has a vocation as a winger and who is having a season of ten, controlled with the interior and, from an early bounce, unleashed a whip that sneaked into the opponent’s corner. Although Espanyol didn’t have time to celebrate, they got lost in the next play. It was with a set piece from his field and with a shot to the diagonal from Iker Losada, who got between Omar and Calero to sleep the ball with his chest and, also with an early bounce, beat Dmtrovic. The Ciutat de València broke out and almost repeated with another counter – directed by Caros Álvarez, who else – that Losada made a mistake in the end, since he jumped ahead of time and was not able to set the times in the header. But, once again, the setback was not enough to disfigure Espanyol.
The same did not happen to him, as he reappeared in the last derby after three months with a bad knee, and asked for a way again against Levante. But misfortune and poor braking sent him to the rebound again, just two minutes after entering the field of play. The captain cursed his luck as did Levante, who lost Arriaga after a sprint. Something that, however, was seen coming because he already complained at the beginning of the crash, kept on the grass by his physique and muscle, also omnipresence. But Arriaga doesn’t know how to play halfway and the one he forced broke. The challenge, in any case, kept the forms and the result, a tie of play and faith, of trust and football.
