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6-4: Pure preseason
Espanyol looses to Sevilla in a crazy, open and full of chances for both sides match goals
Espanyol started the League at the Sanchez Pizjuan with a strange defeat: a very large scoreboard, with a lot of goals by both teams and some defensive mismatches unknown so far. For many minutes seemed more a preseason game with two teams always thinking of the counter area. The exchange of blows was constant and defensive seriousness shown during the summer preparation is not stated against Sevilla. It does not help the injury Oscar Duarte, who had to be replaced after a coup with Roberto.
There was a lot of expectation to see Espanyol’s first match of the season. In the end, Quique Sánchez Flores started with a line up very similar to last year with only three changes: Roberto, Piatti and Baptistao. The first minutes were incredible. Roberto was spectacular and he made a good save before Piatti took advantage of a great action of Baptistao. However, satisfaction didn’t last long for the white and blue team. Roberto made two news saves but he couldn’t do anything to stop a header of Sarabia.
Sevilla, that has lost their three firs official matches, didn’t want another defeat. Vietto a few minutes after scored the second goal for the locals. Espanyol was suffering against a team that was showing a lot of strength and energy. Therefore in a great counterattack of Piatti was finished by Hernán Pérez who drew the match.
The first 30 minutes of the match were incredible and despite some mistakes it was a good result for the team managed by Quique Sánchez Flores who was forced to put Ciani on the field after Oscar’s Duarte injury. Espanyol was able to knock Sevilla before the half time with another goal scored by Víctor Sánchez. But again happiness didn’t last long as Vietto drew the match in the last action of the first half.
The second half didn’t start very well for Espanyol as Vázquez scored a new goal for Sevilla a few minutes after the kick off. The white and blue team wasn’t able to react and Ben Yedder scored the fifth and left Espanyol without many options. Reyes and Javi Fuego went in to see if they could help the team to reduce the distance in the scoreboard. But the substitutions didn’t help the team and again Sevilla scored another goal. It looked impossible that Espanyol could obtain a good result but the team kept fighting and Gerard gave us a bit of hope.