Espanyol does not survive its errors at Anoeta

BarcelonaEspanyol's first away trip ended in disappointment because Mikel Oyarzabal decided so. The Real Sociedad attacker, honored for being a world champion, made the white-and-blues pay dearly for their mistakes (2-1). Two assists from the Eibar footballer settled the periquitos, too erratic yesterday at Anoeta. Roberto Fernández's great goal was of no use to the Catalans, punished by Barrene and Óskarsson. Despite a good start to the league, the periquitos only have three points out of nine.

Espanyol's afternoon got complicated very early on. Just four minutes into the game, a bad back pass from Àlex Calatrava, hero against Madrid, led to Real Sociedad's first goal. Oyarzabal drove towards goal, drawing the periquitos' defenders, and ended up assisting Ander Barrenetxea to score with a shot into the top corner. Vanja Drkušić, in his debut as a starter, could do nothing to prevent the 1-0 and the anger of Manolo González, who does not like these kinds of mistakes at all.

The Basques were coming off two consecutive defeats and, adding last season's games, they hadn't won in ten. Yesterday they smiled again thanks to the help of their rival, brave but very imprecise at Anoeta. Another loss by Urko González, with a txuri-urdin past, almost cost the white-and-blues the second goal. Fortunately, Marko Dmitrovic spat out Oyarzabal's shot as best he could and, minutes later, the Serbian goalkeeper's palm deflected Zubeldia's header onto the crossbar. It was confirmed that set pieces are a pending issue for the periquitos, widely outplayed by their rival during the first half.

Bryan Zaragoza will have to earn his place

But it is known that football does not understand justice and, despite Espanyol's poor performance, in their only good coordinated play, in their first shot on goal, they equalized just before halftime. After a great run down the left flank, Javi Hernández sent in a good cross for Roberto Fernández, who struck it to send it directly into the net. A great goal. The Andalusian striker's third goal and the young Barcelonian's third assist, who is the great revelation of the Periquito team and who has no intention of making things easy for Bryan Zaragoza, Monchi's star signing.

Despite the goal, Manolo didn't see things clearly either, and at halftime, he debuted Gabriel Moscardo, who came on for a booked Urko González. The substitution changed Espanyol's demeanor, as in ten minutes they attacked more than in the previous 45, but a poor press allowed them to concede the second goal and they eventually fell apart, unable to recover. Oyarzabal again received the ball between the lines, once again confusing the rival defenders and gifting the goal to a teammate, in this case Óskarsson. Madrid explained it to the white-and-blues, and Real Sociedad reminded them: lapses in concentration are costly in La Liga. Manolo has a week to fix it.