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Espanyol fight back to beat Levante 4-3

Espanyol prevail in a seven-goal thriller at the RCDE Stadium

The RCDE Stadium enjoyed one of the most exciting games of the year on Matchday 17 of the LaLiga season, as RCD Espanyol fought back to beat Levante UD 4-3. The team had to battle until the end against the division's basement side, but claimed a valuable three points in their final home fixture of 2021.

Vicente Moreno opted to field an almost unchanged starting XI from the side that had lost to Rayo Vallecano, with the one modification the introduction of Morlanes in the centre in place of Keidi Bare.

Espanyol started well with an opportunity for Raúl de Tomás, which failed to come to fruition as the offside flag was raised. However, it did not take long for the first goal of the game to arrive. A shot from Sergi Darder from outside the area found its way into the net after just 6 minutes, setting the tone for a high scoring match.

Levante were struggling, but a rare chance was enough for them to equalise through Jorge de Frutos on 11 minutes.

Herrera, in an action similar to that which he had enjoyed in the match against Real Sociedad, struck over from a positive move for Espanyol, before the visitors went ahead. Son would score midway through the first half, again against the run of play.

Puado, Pedrosa, Darder and Embarba all had opportunities before the break, although Levante also had counterattacks that forced goalkeeper Diego López into action.

The pace of the second half was frantic, beginning with a leveller from RCD Espanyol: RDT finished off an Herrera assist just three minutes after the restart.

From there, the action picked up yet further, and with it Javi Puado raised his game. A José Luis Morales goal for Levante put Espanyol up against it, but the Los Pericos star would bring the RCDE Stadium to its feet with an equaliser just three minutes later.

Shortly thereafter, a ball in the box was met by Puado with a strike out of the reach of goalkeeper Cardenas, taking the score to 4-3.

The dynamic of the match changed slightly soon after, as on the subsequent play Son was sent off for an infraction on Nico Melamed, reducing Levante to ten men.

A nervous eight minutes of stoppage time saw Pedrosa have a golden chance to score Espanyol's fifth, Levante nearly level, and the final whistle blown to take Los Pericos up to 23 points for the campaign, continuing an impressive home record this term.