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1-0: Incredible

Espanyol stops Girona in their tracks, creates endless opportunities but ends up losing because of a goal from a rebound

In all their matches against Girona, Espanyol had never been so obviously superior to their rivals. Never before had they had so many clear opportunities to win a match so easily, but in the end, they surprisingly had to return to Barcelona without any points.

The Montilivi stadium presented a new challenge for the Blue and Whites due to the emerging rivalry that has been developing between the two sides in recent years. This was their sixth official game and so far, each one has caused sparks to fly from all directions for one reason or another. This was not going to be any different. Espanyol shone brightly, dominating the entire match. With strength, consistency, and persistence, although they came back, they ultimately left empty handed. They played an outstanding 90 minutes and were left with in disbelief when Pablo Moreno put the locals ahead, taking advantage of a chain of successful passes shortly before the break.

Before that, the Blue and Whites had clearly been in control of the game, with the flow of one-way traffic in their favour. Juan Carlos, the local hero. He stopped an Embarba free-kick, saved a close range shot from Melamed, deflected a David López header with his leg, watched Embarba's shot hit the post and joined Bernardo at the goal line in stopping a shot from Cabrera.

The second half began as a carbon copy of the first. Within four minutes, with the goalkeeper off his line, Calavera stopped a shot from RDT. Shortly afterwards, Juan Carlos confidently stopped a strike from Melamed, Pedrosa's easy shot found the body of a defender and yet again, Puado ended up crashing the ball into the post. But there was still another Keidi header that Juan Carlos once again managed to stop with incredible skill.

Espanyol insistently searched for the goal, but they just couldn't manage to find the back of the net, despite cornering their opponents in their own half for much of the game. This afternoon's defeat was simply incredible, because of the way it happened. It was such a surprise to everyone.