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2-2: Advantage wasted
Espanyol tied a match that had controlled thanks to goals from Gerard Moreno
After last week’s defeat, Espanyol was decided to improve and obtain a better result. After a very tough season the supporters were willing to see the new project leaded by Quique Sánchez Flores. There was a lot of expectation and despite the day and the hour the Stadium presented a good view.
Espanyol started with some changes in the lineup. Quique Sánchez Flores decided to put Víctor Sánchez in the left back wing and Javi Fuego and the young Marc Roca in the middle to try to be more solid. From the beginning, the white and blue team tried to take over the game despite Málaga was well set on the field. Espanyol tried to create opportunities but didn’t find the way to score against Kameni.
Gerard Moreno was the first to try but his shot didn’t go very far. However, the forward reacted and after a personal action he scored the first goal for Espanyol. A few minutes after, the referee invalided a goal of Álvaro because he was off side. Málaga tried to react before half time, but the team managed by Juande Ramos wasn’t feeling comfortable.
The manager did a few changes after the half time but Málaga didn’t improve and again was Gerard Moreno who scored the second goal for Espanyol. The striker headed into the net a good service from the right. It seemed that the team coached by Quique Sánchez Flores was going to have an easy win but a mistake in a strategy play allowed Málaga to score their first goal. It was time to suffer.
As the minutes passed, Espanyol was feeling more tired and Málaga got closer to Roberto’s goal. The white and blue team didn’t have the ball much and played too accelerated. However, Gerard Moreno and Caicedo had two good opportunities to score the third. The final minutes were terrible. Málaga went for the second goal and when the match was nearly finishing, Charles scored the draw.