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1-1: A point of justice

Espanyol draw at the end of a game that went uphill for an unfair penalty against

The last minutes are starting to be profitable for Espanyol. A goal from Baptistao, just before the added time, allowed the blue and white squad to take a more than deserved point from Levante’s field. Baptistao hit and with his goal Espanyol drew a game that the blue and white players should have resolved much earlier. The draw, however, does not leave either team happy.

There was double examination in the Ciutat de Valencia. For the home team it was time to approve to try to balance the marks of previous weeks that are approaching failure. For the blues and white team, it was time to ratify if the last achieved scores will allow you to get close to a remarkable end of the year. In any case, it was an important game for both rivals.

Quique’s boys began with a bad footing. Sergio Garcia noticed some discomfort in the adductor muscle right in the warm up and went straight to the locker room. The line-up had to be altered. And Baptistao went out in his place to partner with Gerard. The evils followed soon after. A clash of Diego Lopez when trying to clear a ball knocked him down on the ground without conscience. The players saw the seriousness of the moment and for five minutes the anguish planned on the Levante field. Doctors, assistants, stretchers... Only when he was seen to get up to leave the lawn and lie down on the stretcher did he breathe a sigh of relief. And from there, to the hospital, where positive news came from, albeit with the slowness and prudence that medical protocols set.

Until then, the match had been very sober, very tactical, very involved, very hard-working. Muñiz put the lines together, closed all the spaces and Levante only stretched, like a centipede, in attack. All together. More down than up. And so Espanyol was closing the goal of Oier with clear scoring chances, but without aim. The biggest local shock came in the first half, when neither Gerard nor Baptistao reached a center of Barn and the bad clearance of a defender froze the breath of the stands.

After the break it was intuited that the Levante would press the accelerator. The draw served them well. And a gift was found: from an offside clearance that the referee ignored, Ivi dropped inside the area that Morales was in charge of transforming from the penalty spot. The blue and white indignation was maximum and the protests, unanimous.

Levante had done the most difficult and Espanyol had to row stream up. What was not little. Again uphill. And again to try to raise a game in which they had the role for many minutes. Baptistao got it and helped to add a new undefeated day.