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3-1: Complete win
Espanyol defeats Granada in one of the best match of the season
Espanyol finished the first round of the League with a great victory over Granada in a brilliant match of the white and blue team. Reyes, Piatti and Marc Navarro scored the goals that allowed the team achieved the victory against a rival that didn’t give any trouble during the 90 minutes.
After a bad start of 2017, Espanyol wanted to get back to the good spell of results against Granada. Things didn’t start well for the team as Víctor Sánchez, who was expected to return after being left out due to an injury last week, was finally out of the team. The youngster Marc Navarro made his debut in the First Division; the fourth of the season for the white and blue team. The manager Quique Sánchez Flores said in the previous hours that it was a very important match to see where the team was able to do this season. In other words, winning would be clue for the future of Espanyol. Any other result would put us in trouble.
Espanyol started playing very well. The team had a very different attitude from last week and soon started to have chances to score. After a few threats, José Antonio Reyes put the team in front with a brilliant goal. Espanyol kept attacking and it was Jurado who had two clear opportunities to score. Quique’s boys were doing well until Granada took advantage of a free kick to get the draw. Totally unfair. Therefore, Espanyol didn’t got nervous and carried on with the plan and soon got their prize with the second goal of Piatti.
The white and blue team had a brilliant start after half time. Espanyol kept pushing and playing great and soon was able to score the third of the morning. Marc Navarro, who made his debut in the first division, connected a extraordinary shot to beat ‘Memo’ Ochoa. David López tried a few minutes after whit a good shot that the goalkeeper refused to corner.
Espanyol could have got more goals but the time probably needed a bit more of calm to add them to the final score. Great victory for the team in the last match of the first round.