Espanyol comes out of relegation at the expense of Valladolid

RCD Espanyol beat Real Valladolid 2-1 at home this Friday at the start of matchday 20 of the LaLiga EA Sports, with local goals from Javi Puado and Roberto Fernández, thus leaving the parakeets out of a relegation zone where the Pucelanos continue together with bottom team Valencia CF and now also together with Deportivo Alavés.

At the RCDE Stadium, the first chance came quickly, thanks to a header that Leandro Cabrera hit the crossbar after a corner. The visitor’s response came after a quarter of an hour, with left-back Lucas Rosa unchecking into the space and in an area rarely frequented by him, until he stepped into the rival area and hooked a right hand.

But Joan García deflected the ball with his body on his way down and Espanyol dominated from then on, opening the scoring in the 31st minute with a great goal from their captain. Álvaro Tejero sent a cross at mid-height towards the Valladolid area, perhaps looking for Alex Král, but Puado controlled it with his right boot and volleyed cross-court with his left foot.

Marcos André missed a chance to tie shortly before the break, from which both teams returned somewhat thick. In the 57th minute, Raúl Moro injured his right shoulder after a fall when receiving a foul on the edge of the area, leaving the field of play on a stretcher; and Javi Sánchez sneaked that same free kick, almost into the top corner, to make it 1-1.

The Barcelona team suffered little from the blow and, in the 74th minute, made it 2-1 as a result of a robbery by Alejo Véliz in the opposite field and quickly opening up for the race on the right wing of Omar El Hilali, who first crossed the árez and there Roberto Fernández got ahead of a Valladolid defender to head in the winning goal from close range.

The Blanquivioletas wasted a couple of opportunities in stoppage time and consummated their defeat, remaining nineteenth with 15 points. For their part, the parakeets reached 19 points and momentarily left the relegation positions to the Second Division, waiting for Alavés (17 pts.) to visit Betis this Saturday.