Sevilla comes back against Espanyol and leaves them on the verge of death

BarcelonaEspanyol presents a very bad image. One more matchday they continue without winning, and that makes it 18. In Seville, in a life-or-death duel against a direct rival, they were close to achieving it (2-1). But in the final moments of the match, a goal from Castrín equalized Tyrhys Dolan's 0-1 and frustrated the virtual permanence of the 'periquitos', who ended up falling in a very cruel way with a second goal in injury time from Adams.

Two defensive errors rescue the Andalusians -they are already above the 'periquitos'- and leave Espanyol on the verge of death. With a bad dynamic of six points out of 54 with three matchdays left, and only two points above the relegation zone, they are in serious danger of dropping back to the Second Division. The faces of the players and the coach at the end of the match, all desolate, confirm the extent of the tragedy.

Espanyol does not react

Manolo González no longer knows what to do to lift the team. In Seville, he tried giving Rubén Sánchez the starting position, but neither he nor any of his teammates have stepped onto the Sánchez-Pizjuán pitch, which has been turned into a hell by the importance of the match for the locals, with the conviction of winning. From the initial whistle, which was delayed ten minutes due to a problem with VAR, Sevilla, with more heart than head, has come close to scoring.

If the white and blues, nervous and imprecise as is usual, have survived the locals' dazzling start, it has been thanks to Marko Dmitrovic, who has prevented Isaac Romero's goal with a reflex save. Serbio's holy cards should be distributed at Cornellà-El Prat.

Espanyol has a problem with scoring goals

Sevilla has also been sustained for months by the performances of their goalkeeper, a Vlachodimos who denied Edu Expósito the 0-1. It would have barely been the second goal for the 'periquitos' since the beginning of April, one of the main reasons for their crisis in results. The action was preceded by a very dangerous recovery by the midfielder from Cubelles, who shot directly at the Greek's hands. It was the first approach from an Espanyol that, little by little, has gotten the hang of a match full of tension, tackles, and long balls; a final for survival, no matter how you look at it, that could have been decided at the start of the second half.

The first ball that Alexis Sánchez, who had replaced Romero at halftime, touched was a goal. But VAR disallowed it for a millimeter offside. Espanyol was lucky that they had fixed the video arbitration before the start.

Minutes later, the miracle happened: Espanyol scored again. Roberto's faith, who had crossed a ball that was going out of bounds, served as an assist for Dolan, who took advantage of a mistake by the Sevilla defense to blast past Vlachodimos. The Englishman did several somersaults and the entire bench jumped onto the pitch to celebrate. Manolo, aware that there was more than half an hour left in the match, didn't even move.

The directive from then on was clear: cool down the game and maintain the result at all costs, but this Espanyol is made of glass. And with ten minutes left, they conceded the equalizer due to a collective error that allowed central defender Castrín to enter the box and beat a not-so-sharp Marko Dmitrovic. In stoppage time, Adams definitively sank the 'blanquiazules' with a shot from the edge of the area after another mistake by the Catalan defense. Espanyol could no longer recover from the blow. They have three games to do so.