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0-0: Deserved point
Quique Sánchez Flores team gets a good draw against Villarreal
Espanyol got a very positive result after drawing against Villarreal in a match without goals, but with opportunities and moments of good football. The players led by Quique Sánchez Flores faced a big rival that scarcely disturbed the very serious white and blue squad during the 90 minutes.
After the victory against Celta, Espanyol wanted to extend their good spell of results against Villarreal, one of the top teams of the League. The white and blue squad started quite well and soon Jurado has a great chance to score. His header went out for a little. Baptistao and Gerard also tried before Villareal began to get in control of the match.
The locals had more the ball and started to create some trouble to Espanyol. However, the team managed by Quique Sánchez Flores was able to stop their opponent and Pau didn’t had much trouble. Actually, the goalkeeper only had to do two saves in the first half. As the minutes went on, Espanyol improved and finished controlling Villarreal. Meanwhile Hermoso had a great opportunity to put Espanyol in front but Barbosa made a great save. A shame because the Catalan team deserved a better result.
The second half started with identical parameters. Espanyol continued looking for the goal of Barbosa, while the Villarreal was tied with the blue and white movements. That spider web provided a couple of good shots of Gerard and Baptistao who warned the groguets that the team would not give up. He wrote it down and moved the bench immediately. So did Quique. Another tactical match began to face the final stretch..
Espanyol handled with great discretion the match. Quique Sánchez Flores's players may not have been able to control the ball, but they were able to stop the local rush. Pau was very successful in a couple of opportunities to avoid the local goal. The two teams looked to victory to the end and had their options. Javi Fuego, in a play of strategy, could not hit hard and, luckily, Unal also failed in a head shot and allowed Espanyol to leave La Ceramics with a well deserved point.