Espanyol is a poem

Cornellá de LlobregatAlavés promoted their match against Espanyol with Txoria Txori, a Basque poem turned into a protest song thanks to Mikel Laboa, who in 1968 called for freedom, which he illustrated with a bird –choria– whose wings, if clipped, would cease to be a bird... and to be free. It was a prelude, because last night the Vitoria fans clipped the wings of the Espanyol fans, identified with the bird on the poster, who collapsed against the worst away team in the league (1-2). Their 2026 is dismal: with the defeat, they have only managed two points out of a possible 15 this year; even so, they remain in a European qualification spot.

Not even five minutes of the game had been played before the television cameras were already focusing on him. Pedro MillaThe team's top scorer was a substitute for the first time since September. The iconic striker from Lleida was one of the main casualties of Manolo González's squad, who opted for German Clemens Riedel at right-back and a two-striker formation with Roberto Fernández and Kike García. The Galician coach showed good judgment, because just 15 minutes into the match, Carlos Romero delivered a pinpoint cross into the box that both strikers contested, diving to outjump their defenders, and the Andalusian headed home the opening goal.

Espanyol doesn't lock down its defense

Roberto needed it, and so did Espanyol, who hadn't won at home since... December 7The day of the last goal by the striker from Puente Genil, for whom the Blue and Whites paid a hefty sum in the summer. Before that, the worst away team in the First Division, who arrived in Barcelona without Carlos Vicente, sold to the English Championship for eight million, had almost scored with a point-blank shot from Pablo Ibáñez. And shortly after, Antonio Blanco equalized with a long-range shot that surprised Marko Dmitrovic, who has now gone six games without a clean sheet. As they say, joy is short-lived for the underdog.

A header from Leandro Cabrera that went just wide of the post prompted a restless Manolo González to get up from the bench, still without any new signings – Cyril Ngonge arrived in Barcelona yesterday and Quilindschy Hartman, from Burnley, made a surprise appearance in the RCDE Stadium's VIP box. That's why, at the start of the second half, he brought on Pere Milla and Tyrhys Dolan, two natural game-changers brought in to ease the workload of Roberto and Kike, who were practically isolated.

The match, boring as it was, turned into a frenzy around the hour mark. Then, Dmitrovic made a spectacular save with his foot to deny Yusi a certain goal, and the post denied Toni Martínez a shot. Minutes later, Lucas Boyé capitalized on a misunderstanding between Cabrera and the Serbian goalkeeper to make it 1-2 with ease and crush the spirits of Espanyol, who, despite scoring a goal that was ruled offside, were unable to recover.