Espanyol will end the year in relegation positions. The blue and white team bids farewell to 2024 in which suffering has been its shadow, an ungrateful traveling companion who has not managed to mislead due to his propensity to get into trouble, to complicate matters with absurd errors and to fail in attack with the little he is capable of building. . Against Las Palmas the blue and white team made a big difference, capable of playing a very serious game until a free-kick goal from Sandro left them without an answer. Another defeat and they are already nine away from Cornellà. In addition, he goes to the Christmas break after collecting two points out of nine in a week that seemed key for the continuity of Manolo González.
In his search to find the key that would make the team perform away from home, González surprised with the entry of Tejero in place of Jofre, one of the most important players on this team. A theoretically conservative bet that was accompanied by a change in system to a 4-1-4-1 with Tejero inside. Antoniu Roca returned to the eleven, already established after his good performance in the last two duels. And in attack, the choice was again Cheddira, who performed perfectly to offload balls and favor the team’s exit.
The news at the beginning was that Espanyol managed to tie the game and for the first time in several games and exceeded fifteen minutes without conceding. But not only that, the good work of the midfield, with a very orderly forward pressure, prevented Las Palmas from having depth in attack. All of this was a very positive development for a team that, far from its stadium, had become a puppet. It was not like that in Las Palmas, where a slow, almost soporific pace of play benefited the usual blue and white nervousness.
The match even led to Essugo going to the locker room after 20 minutes to urgently go to the bathroom. Cillesen collaborated with him, who faked an injury to give his teammate time, who returned in a timely manner when the goalkeeper had recovered. A little theater that helped make all the protagonists even more drowsy.
Given the inability of the local team to progress dangerously, only a few runs by Sandro and some lateral crosses worried Joan García in the first half, Espanyol began to grow. Solid in defense, supportive in the middle and with a renewed personality to associate with, Manolo González’s team surprised itself by controlling the ball in several sections with long possessions. In the best of all of them, Antoniu Roca, a player in great form, entered the area and his pass was weakly finished off by Puado into the hands of Cillesen. It was the best chance of the game in the entire first half. Espanyol grew, perhaps surprised by being superior in the opposite field, something unusual this season.
Diego Martínez tried to change the pace of the game with the entry of Fuster and Januzaj, but he did not get his team to improve in attack. Espanyol continued to deploy with great depth, being capable of threatening the rival area. This is what Oliván did with a fantastic cross that left Roca in a great position, but his shot was once again very weak. Too easy for Cillesen.
The Canarian team increased the pressure and that’s where the problems began for Espanyol. There was no longer fluidity at the start and Las Palmas chewed the ball in the perico field almost constantly. The vital signs of the blue and white team were losing heartbeats. That’s where the local team hit. Sandro took advantage of a distant foul to score with a very focused shot that Joan García should have stopped.
A minute later El Hilali sent a shot for a corner that went into goal after another false start by the blue and white goalkeeper. Kirian also touched the second with a shot that went wide. The goal, the only time up to that point for Las Palmas, took González’s team out of the game, which reacted with the entries of Jofre, Véliz and Edu Expósito, who returned to play after more than ten months out due to injury.
The parakeet team had some options in the final stretch, especially a cross from the right by Jofre that Véliz was unable to finish. But the team did not have the energy to overcome it and suffered another defeat. He leaves in 2024. A period of reflection opens in the club to make decisions that improve 2025 for this Espanyol, for now without remedy.
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