Betis vs Espanyol: "Perico´s" revenge at Villamarín

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The 5^th journey of LaLiga let us an amazing match between Espanyol of Barcelona and Real Betis in Benito Villamarín. The team managed by Vicente Moreno arrived at the 5^th journey with only 1 point over the drop zone, so they needed to get some point if they wanted to move away of the drop zone. They, called “Pericos” too, didn’t meet the victory in LaLiga yet. In their last match they lost at the 99’, so they arrived enraged from the previous game.

Sevillian team, on the other hand, was in a quiet position, the 9^th one, but even so, getting the 3 points was important for Pellegrini’s squad. They came from a victory 1-2 in Los Cármenes  against Granada CF.

A very interesting match between these two squads was waiting us the Sunday 19 at 6 p.m.

Match summary:

The game started at the estimated hour in Benito Villamarín.

The local squad started playing strongly, and this pressing was about to be effective, because at the 2’, the defensive midfielder of Betis Williahm Carvalho shot to the net side, being very close to the 1^st goal. Only one minute later, Sevillian squad had another attempt, this time was a shoot to the crossbar of the young player Rodri Sanchez, after a serious loss of the “perician” squad in his own field. Two attempts in two minutes, Betis was about to score the first goal of the game, and Espanyol players were defending as they could. 

At 4’ Raúl de Tomás, the main striker of the squad of Barcelona, could score the first goal but his head shoot went over the goal. 

Having played only 7’ of the game, Victor Ruiz, the unique player of Betis who had played all the minutes in LaLiga until now, got injured. He was replaced by Edgar Gonzalez, who only 2’ later saw the first yellow card of the match. He committed a fault in the front of the area. This fault was kicked by Adrián Embarba, but the experienced goalkeeper Claudio Bravo could catch the ball without any problem.

The match was at the 16’ when Aleix Vidal, after a great pass of Raúl de Tomás, scored the first goal of the match and his first goal as “perician”. 0-1 for RCD Espanyol in Villamarín, after the good shoot of the left-winger of the blue and white squad. The first goal was a surprise for the match, because the team who had been attacking more was the Sevillian one. 

It happened nothing remarkable until 41’, when Adrià Pedrosa scored a goal in his own goal, so Betis tied the game. Bad luck for the Barcelonian team at Betis goal. Bad luck for Espanyol didn’t disappear, because eight minutes later the French midfielder Nabil Fekir scored another goal for Real Betis and put the 2-1 in the score. In few minutes Real Betis could go up in the score, and the team managed by Vicente Moreno was shocked after the two fast goals.

2^nd half started with a few changes in the Catalan squad, Morlanes and Melendo were substituted by Loren Morón and Keidi Bare. 

The first minutes Espanyol suffered the high pression of their rival, and Betis could score the third goal in several occasions, by they didn’t find the way. From minute 65 Espanyol started attacking more, since they needed a goal to tie the match. 

At 78’ it occurred an important event that could be determinant for the development of the end of the game. Pezzella, one of the Betis central-backs directly received a red card due to a strong entry to Aleix Vidal, the scorer of the first goal of Espanyol. From that moment Espanyol started attacking more and more, taking advantage of its numerical sale. Now the local squad was suffering the constant attacks of the visitant squad. 

Althought the Barcelonian squad had been disabled to find the goal, at 97’ Espanyol could finally score the so expected goal that all “pericos” were waiting all those minutes. Leandro Cabrera, central-back of the Catalan team, was the player who scored the goal, after a rebound of Betis.  

That so magnificent and exciting game ended 2-2, in a tragical ending for the local team, that lost 2 points in the last minute. Both teams got one point finally.

Post-match:

After the 5^th journey of LaLiga we can see how Espanyol has gone down some positions in the classification, being in the 16^th position with 3 points and only 2 of difference with Celta, team that delimits the drop zone. The following journey “pericos” are receiving Alaves at RCD Stadium, team who has not got any point in LaLiga yet. 

On the other hand, Real Betis has also gone down a few positions, now being in the 11^th place with 6 points, but they have more difference of points with the drop zone. They have 4 points of sale. In the next match they will visit Osasuna´s field, that now are 4 positions up with 2 points of advantage. 

So with this we end the 5^th journey of both squads, but remember that football continues and the following journeys we’ll have a lot of interesting matches and goals, all in one of the best leagues of the world, LaLiga.