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1-1 (3-4): Early knock out
Espanyol, out of the Cup after losing against Alcorcón
The white and blue team was knocked out of the Cup after loosing against Alcorcón. The visitors got in front of the score board very soon and dominated the match. Espanyol was only able to get the draw in the final minutes. After a disappointing extra time, the match was decided on penalties.
Quique Sánchez Flores probably thinks that when things work the best thing to do is not to make many changes. The coach was forced to put Roberto in goal because of Diego López’s injury and he also made a few changes in the defence with the two Duartes, Óscar and Rubén, making the start. Reyes, who only had a few minutes against Barcelona, was also in the line up. Quique didn’t want to take any risks and he decided to put in the field his bests players.
Alcorcón started playing better and soon had a few options to score. The first one a few seconds after the start of the match that finished in a corner kick for the visitants. Espanyol didn’t feel comfortable on the pitch against a team that had their ideas very clear and seem to play with more enthusiasm. After a few efforts, the team coached by Julio Velázquez were able to score and put themselves in front of the score board. The truth is that Espanyol didn’t react after the goal and the blue and white team wasn’t able to create any clear chance to score. Therefore, Alcorcón carried on playing with a lot of confidence and during a lot of minutes it seemed that they were going to get another goal. Only in the last action of the first half Diego Reyes had a great chance to score but the defender wasn’t lucky and missed when he had all the goal to score.
In the half time, Quique decided to make two changes: Melendo and Hernán Pérez made their way in instead of Caicedo and José Antonio Reyes. The manager was looking for some reaction from the team and decided to give an opportunity to these players. However, the changes didn’t have a great effect and Espanyol kept without creating real danger. The match went on but Espanyol couldn’t find the way to score until a great individual action of Piatti finished in Hernán Pérez foot to score the first goal for the white and blue team. A 30 minutes extra time had to be played. Neither Espanyol or Alcorcón were able to score and the match had to be decided on penalties. Again the white and blue team was unlucky and Alcorcón make it through to the next round.