• Chronicle: Espanyol wakes up on time and tracks the tie

Espanyol had to grit his teeth a little , but he finally got his much-desired prize: to get into the Europa League. The 2-2 final against a very combative Zorya, with goals from a Chucky Ferreyra and a Matías Vargas who have been very inspired in this previous phase of the second European competition, earned him to be definitely in the draw sweepstakes of the phase of groups that will take place this Friday in Monaco. Once the duties have been done in the old continent, the League, a competition in which its beginnings have been somewhat reluctant, now requires the greatest attention.

The Zorya, despite the 3-1 embedded in the first leg, already made it very clear in Cornellà-El Prat that he planned to sell his elimination face when the playfoff arrived in Ukraine. Therefore, it was not uncommon for the home team to start the second leg as a storm. In the first moments of the duel, he bequeathed again and again with danger in the immediate vicinity of a Diego López who started the game somewhat hesitantly, but sufficiently involved in the match to prevent the ball from reaching the goal line .

The Ukrainians pressed Espanyol very high. They pulled physique and claw to make things very complicated for a team that, above all, needed to calm down to control the ball a little and try to sleep the match. As soon as he recovered the ball, he seemed to be infected by the rush of his rival, when it would have been much better for him to be patient to seek the wear of the Zorya.

The first occasion would be for the Blue and Whites, a pass from Melendo to Darder that did not go to majors , yet it served the Galician team to find that control that he had missed so much in the first minutes of the game. That greater dominance of the game, in the end, would serve to give his rival a blow in final appearance. The Chucky Ferreyra, after a corner served by Darder, scored a 0-1 seemingly called to stop the Ukrainian push, just over ten minutes to the end of the first half.

But the Zorya, far from being diluted, tried to keep his thrust. Only his lack of success in the final meters, his greatest ballast, allowed Espanyol to go to rest with an advantage on the scoreboard, but with the certainty that having the domain of the ball was going to be vital to save unnecessary suffering in the resumption. The prize, however, fell from the local side. Lednev , in the first minutes of the resumption, after a bad displacement of the ball of Diego López, obtained somewhat of the tie that returned to spur the offensive anxieties of the Ukrainian team.

The only thing Espanyol needed to calm down again was, again, to have the ball. And as soon as he got to it, it didn't take long to put the wind back in his favor. Matías Vargas, after a great pass from Marc Roca, stood alone against Shevchenko and beat him without his pulse trembling to a minimum, then yes, and despite the 2-2 final marked by Rusyn, now take almost closed the play off. And, incidentally, ensure, once and for all, the return of the blue and white team to Europe 12 years after Glasgow.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

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