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Espanyol progress on penalties in Copa del Rey
The team win 1-3 in a shootout against Ponferradina
A penalty shootout was required by RCD Espanyol to make it through to the next round of the Copa del Rey, as they ousted Ponferradina from the competition. After the 90 minutes and extra time ended 1-1, the shootout concluded 1-3 at El Toralín.
The home side -in good form in the Segunda División- kept their lines tight and pressed to prevent Espanyol from moving the ball around easily. However, Vicente Moreno's men came out with very clear ideas, and just four minutes had elapsed when Adrià Pedrosa scored the opening goal of the contest. He was played through by Raúl de Tomás, and surprised goalkeeper Sergi Puig with a rapid, accurate shot inside the post.
The 0-1 advantage allowed Los Pericos to settle down, and they continued to circulate the ball to generate danger. RDT was centimetres away from scoring a second from a shot inside the six yard box, and Nico Melamed also tried his luck with a brilliant bit of skill, shortly before the interval.
The second half started much like the first, with Espanyol looking for goals. Javi Puado had the first chance to increase the lead, but narrowly missed. From there, another exchange of opportunities got underway: Diego López stopped a one-on-one with Naranjo, and Sergi Puig aborted an RDT shot.
When the regulation 90 minutes was drawing to a close, RCD Espanyol suffered a setback: Yuri struggled for the ball with Sergi Gómez inside the area, and the referee whistled for a penalty -despite appeals from Los Pericos that the incident was both not a foul and had come after a clear offside at the beginning of the move.
Yuri himself stepped up to score the penalty, making it 1-1. He would also make a clearance off the line from Dimata, which took the game into extra time.
In those 30 minutes, Dimata had three clear chances, one of which crashed into the post, and Wu Lei struck just off target. With no change in the scoreline in the additional two periods, a penalty shootout would be required.
Diego López would be the hero of the hour, as whilst Ponferradina scored their first spot kick, they would miss their next three -the goalkeeper saving twice.
Espanyol make it into the Round of 16 of the Copa del Rey, with the draw to decide their opponents taking place on Friday.