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0-1: Nine of nine

Espanyol signs a practical game to add a suffered victory in La Rosaleda

It was a day to suffer. Everyone was warned. Malaga, as it was expected, was determined to add three points after chaining a poor streak of results that, despite not putting you in any danger, does warn you how competitive the championship will be until the last second.

And that's what Espanyol did: fight to the last breath to add three points worth gold and certify three of three, or nine of nine. Three victories in the last three games.

Espanyol wanted to follow their idyll with victories and to add their third consecutive triumph, having surpassed the double obstacle like local before Granada and Seville. The white and blue team arrived at La Rosaleda with a good dose of self-esteem and with the feeling that they should repeat their competitive ability as they did during the first round. In fact, Quique’s boys began losing outside to Seville and did not do it again until the Camp Nou, four months later. The good thing of the team is guessed for weeks and little by little begins to be recognizable as the technician reiterates.

In the local side, after the resignation of Juande Ramos, the arrival of Marcelo Romero had only contributed one point to the Malaga and four consecutive defeats. Seven games with no victories.

In any case, the match started with the patterns expected of a clash between two teams with antagonistic sprints. The locals accelerated to leave, while Espanyol tried to put itself in the field. Santos had three opportunities in the first 15 minutes but once failed to finish, another failed him and in the third, Diego Reyes cleared it on the line.

It was the prelude to the first blue-and-white blow. In a well-placed attack, the ball ended at the feet of Piatti who did not even think about it from outside the area. His shot slipped close to the left post of Kameni and put in advantage to the Catalans. What came next was almost a monologue. The locals crashed again and again their attacks against well-equipped blue-and-white defence, while Quique's did not miss the opportunity to try counter-attacks that put the local goal in trouble. Without great strings, the match was sufficiently controlled and more seemed inclined on the Catalan side.

The second half, however, began with a much more intense Malaga, continually seeking the goal of Diego López and Espanyol defending the rent with some order but without getting away the locals to his own goal.

The local siege to Diego López's goal was insistent until the final whistle. More than a dozen corners against testify the local impulse and the meritorious work of the white and blue to defend nails and teeth three points that did not want that it escaped. In the RCDE Stadium, in the first round, against Malaga, the victory flew in the discount. Not today. Today Espanyol again added three points in a field that begins to give him extraordinarily well in results, but agonizing in the effort to obtain them.