Espanyol passes the round in the Cup but does not clear doubts

The Cup was not the oasis that Espanyol expected, the respite after a disappointing initial stretch of the season.

Thomas Osborne
Thomas Osborne
12 November 2022 Saturday 20:34
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Espanyol passes the round in the Cup but does not clear doubts

The Cup was not the oasis that Espanyol expected, the respite after a disappointing initial stretch of the season. It was an invitation to go to the thinking corner during the Christmas break. The Blue and Whites fulfilled the forecasts and eliminated CD Rincón (0-3), a modest Malaga club from Rincón de la Victoria, in the first round, but they had many more problems than expected, multiplied after the absurd red card expulsion of Dani Gómez against edge of the break, when the scoreboard still reflected a goalless tie.

The sensations in the first 45 minutes of the parakeets did not invite optimism, unable to generate chances against the compact defense of the leader of their group in the Andalusian Division of Honor, the sixth category of Spanish football. Diego Martínez arranged an eleven full of substitutes on the lawn of La Rosaleda, starting with the Villahermosa subsidiary players, Omar and Simo, but after the break, when the drama hung over the Spanish, he pulled headlines to save the ballot, among them Javi Puado, author of the first goal. Edu Expósito cleared the ghosts in the 70th minute and Joselu completed the list of scorers.

The momentum of the Malacitanos short-circuited the visitors in the first part, thick and without ideas in attack. Melamed was the only one before the break with the ability to publicize the name of the local goalkeeper, Joki, who stretched a couple of times to deflect two shots from the youth squad. Despite the lack of goals, the situation seemed controlled by Espanyol until Dani Gómez fell to the ground due to a shot without the ball by a rival that went unpunished. The man from Madrid, totally excited by the protests, touched the referee, Pizarro Gómez, too hard and was sent off.

With one less and before 7,912 people dedicated to his team in the most important game in its history, the second part required the best version of the parakeet. However, everything changed in the 49th minute, when Toni Conejo was shown a red card for a hard tackle from behind on Edu Expósito. Again with numerical equality and already warned, Espanyol took a step forward and began to find holes in the rival defense as the physical tone of the Rincón lowered.

The Catalans played with more ease and finally opened the scoring in a combination that Melamed started with Lazo and Puado finished off the net with pleasure at the center of the Cadiz player. The Malacitanos were unable to respond to the blow, only concerned with defending their area, and the final blow came with a great goal from Edu Expósito in a shot from outside the area after a corner kick.

With two goals to spare, the Blue and Whites played at will, with the humble Andalusian club already on the canvas. Kenneth made his debut and Joselu entered the field, closing the scoring with a low kick inside the area and was able to score the fourth with a spur shot that went to the post.

For their part, Nàstic de Tarragona also made it to the round, beating Racing Rioja of the Second RFEF at home with goals from Lupu and Montes (0-2). The other Catalan team that played yesterday, Olot, could not surprise at home against Levante who already had the tie on track before half an hour with a brace from Roberto Soldier (0-4).

Check all the results of the Copa del Rey.

Corner: Joki; Gonzalo Garcia, Alvaro Gil, Lasly Munoz, Enri Sanchez (Sergio Diaz, m. 59); Adal Jimenez (Chechu Torres, 59), Oscar Gonzalez, Semi Ramirez (Sergio Molina, 59), Tony Rabbit; Mingui Morales (Pablo Roca, m. 67) and Pepe Captain (Alvaro Vergara, m. 75).

3. Spanish: Álvaro Fernández; Aleix Vidal (Óscar Gil, d. 46), Cabrera, Simo, Omar (Kennet, d. 78); Lazo (Joselu, m. 78), Pol Lozano (Keidi Bare, m. 46), Villahermosa (Puado, m. 46), Edu Expósito; Niko Melamed and Dani Gómez.

Referee: Pizarro Gómez (Madrid Committee). He admonished the locals Enri Sánchez (m. 30), Chechu Torres (m. 61) and expelled Toni Conejo (m. 50) with a direct red card, and the visitors Nico Melamed (m. 25), Óscar Gil (m. 61 ), Kenneth (m. 80) and expelled Diego Gómez (m. 45) with a direct red card.

Goals: 0-1: Handful, (m. 60). 0-2: Edu Exposito (d. 70). 0-3: Joselu (d. 83).

Incidents: Match corresponding to the first qualifying round of the Copa del Rey played at the La Rosaleda stadium before 7,912 spectators.