Espanyol saves a point, but does not end its passion

BarcelonaFor Christians, Holy Saturday is a day of silence and anticipation, prior to the commemoration of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, after his passion and death. For the parakeets, devout and suffering as few are, yesterday was more or less the same. They trusted that after 12 matchdays without knowing victory, they would find triumph again in Seville, where these holy days are lived intensely. They didn't, but at least they earned a point against a Betis fighting for the Champions League (0-0). Furthermore, without conceding; they hadn't achieved that since mid-December. That said, the records are daunting: this year the white-and-blues have not yet won and have accumulated five points out of 39 in 2026. And next Saturday they visit the Camp Nou.Reinforced by the club during the international break, Manolo González gave Roberto Fernández the starting position instead of the veteran Kike García. Pol Lozano also broke into the eleven, accompanied in midfield by Urko González and Edu Expósito, with the aim of containing a Betis that, as expected, took complete control of the ball from the outset. For almost half an hour of play, the Andalusians' possession - exceeding 70% - was sterile; they moved it from one side to the other, without speed or depth... until they found a gap in the white-and-blue defense and Ruibal made Dmitrovic shine.

Dmitrovic, savior

The striker from Sallent received a killer pass from compatriot Bellerín and, after a cannon shot, crashed into the legs of the Periquito goalkeeper. First miracle from the Serbian, recently accustomed to making saves of merit. Minutes later he prevented the goal again: with his right hand he deflected a half-bitten header from Altimira that was heading for the net. Betis, also in need of a win after five winless matches, was clearly imposing themselves. A deflected shot from Cyril Ngonge confirmed that Espanyol, unable to make more than three consecutive passes, were still in it. On the bench, Manolo González looked annoyed.

The Galician's dressing-down at halftime suited the white-and-blues, who came out with a different air from the locker room. Even so, ten minutes later the Periquito coach decided to substitute Kike García for Roberto, who had fought for everything but had touched very little. Manolo's plan was to withstand the local onslaught and try to catch them on the counter-attack. And Expósito, with a long-range shot that Valles deflected, was close to satisfying him: Espanyol's first shot on goal, in the 65th minute.

A shot from midfield by Bartra that went just wide and a couple of individual actions by Abde, who came on for a missing Antony, warned Espanyol: they would have to sweat it out to get something at La Cartuja. They were lucky that Pablo García's header, on one of the first balls he touched, hit the crossbar. It was the clearest chance for a Betis unable to break down the wall of an Espanyol that again kept a clean sheet and, if it weren't for the fact that they haven't won since December 22nd of last year, they would have had reasons to celebrate the draw. Be that as it may, they are one point closer to staying up.