Friday, May 18th, 2012
For now at least, the doubts about Espanyol’s European credentials have been eased after a superb second half performance helped them to a 4-1 win over a rival for those very placings.
Real Sociedad had been the first to settle but Antoine Griezmann was off target with his fifth-minute effort while Daniel Estrada’s effort resulted in similar on 22 minutes.
Javi Márquez – subject of transfer speculation once again this week, was playing well however and was showing the most initiative for Espanyol as he distributed the ball well and covered his defensive duties with authority.
The visitors did though, produce the first genuine threat with David Zurutuza seeing his shot tipped round the post by Espanyol goalkeeper Carlos Kameni in the 26th minute.
It was the home side who took the lead though, be it incredible fortuitously after seeing little of the ball in the opening stages. They went ahead three minutes before the break courtesy of an Estrada own goal, the Real Sociedad defender turned in Alvaro’s shot past the helpless Claudio Bravo when he prodded out his leg. The move to start Alvaro was a positive one by Mauricio Pochettino, as he opted to play him ahead of fellow creative outlets such as Márquez and Verdú who sat slightly deeper.
Estrada soon made amends though, as he levelled on the stroke of half-time from Griezmann’s corner which was headed back into play at the back post by Vadim Demidov.
After the break it was to be an entirely different story as Espanyol completely dominated proceedings, and took the lead within ten minutes of the game restarting.
Verdú cut in from the right hand channel and supplied a nice lofted ball for Sergio Garcia who with one swift movement had spun his defender before applying a tidy finish. The ponytailed striker has been poked at by fun throughout his career, some wondering how he failed to live up to all the promise he showed in his early teens – but the goal was pure class, and this was one laugh he’ll have.
With ten minutes remaining Jose Callejón put the finishing touches to the game when he showed good close control, to evade the defender and hit the ball across Bravo which trickled into the net. It was left to the impressive Márquez to finish off the game.
With a free-kick around 30 yards out, the midfielder curled home a sumptuous effort to cap a fine personal, and team performance which lifts the gloom which had descended over El Cornellà in recent weeks.
With Athletic Bilbao playing tonight at the San Mámes the victory was all the more important for Pochettino’s young squad – they move two points ahead of the Basques and sit in 5th place.
FT: Espanyol 4 (Estrada OG 41, Sergio García 54, Callejón 81, Márquez 90) – Real Sociedad 1 (Estrada 43)
Tags: Espanyol, Griezmann, Javi Márquez, Real Sociedad, Sergio Garcia
