Villarreal fell victim to the 'Abelardo effect', which has turned the dynamics of Espanyol in a seen and unseen. At the moment, with his triumph at the Ceramics Stadium (1-2), he has ended a nine-day streak without winning in a match that was very expensive with the goals of David López and Raúl de Tomás, that premiered in the league, and that was complicated after the penalty and the expulsion of Javi López. With numerical superiority, the yellow team locked up their opponent but their lack of success and the sticks deprived him of the tie, confirming that when the opponent seems more affordable it costs the Calleja team more to take out the matches.

It was not too surprising that Espanyol went ahead just as the game had started. In a semi-empty stadium where almost three thousand parakeet fans displaced to Vila-real were almost heard, Abelardo's team was much more plugged in. In just a couple of minutes Raúl de Tomás had already tried his luck in a shot that went high and at five it was David López who punished the apathy of the yellows in a corner kick. Naldo finished off in the first suit and came a perfect assistance for the incorporation of David López in the second. Anguissa, who was the one who marked him, got confused and the Catalan nodded at pleasure.

Villarreal had entered the game very cold and with an atypical eleven conditioned by the loss of the injured Gerard and the absence of an Ekambi that already has the five senses at the Olympique de Lyon. Calleja had no choice but to put Bacca on top, besides making a hole for Cazorla in the eleven to the detriment of Moi Gómez. But the team did not finish carbureting, nor when the drawing varied to recover its estimated rhombus with Cazorla in the upper vertex behind Bacca and Chukwueze.

Neither way nor did Villarreal find his game despite the fact that the passing of the minutes caused him to take the pie off and decanting the balance of possession on his side. At rest he left without firing between the three sticks. The closest was to do it Trigueros, who was slightly high a shot in the area after a good action rehearsed in a corner kick. Chukwueze did not break and Cazorla could not find the gaps in a very serious Espanyol in defense and who could have breached the scoreboard having considered the sanctionable VAR an action of Pau in which he deflected with a hand a shot on goal by Raúl de Thomas

Instead, he did see the video arbitration penalty, ratifying the referee's decision, in a ball that hit Javi Lopez's elbow, which had been thrown to cover a shot and raised his arm over his shoulder. It also cost the second yellow to the center. Cazorla's goal from eleven meters allowed Villarreal to cut distances because Espanyol had extended his rent as soon as he started the second half. David López took advantage of a mistake by Pau in the exit of the ball to enable Calleri, who put a good ball in the area so that Raúl de Tomás , in the lead, will debut with Espanyol in the league after having already done so in the Copa del Rey .

Abelardo's team had yielded the initiative to the people of Castellón and the expulsion of Dídac only promoted yellow dominance, also favored by the tactical movements of Calleja. Iborra was placed above and Villarreal began to hang balls to the area trying to take advantage of the centimeters of the Valencian. Thus, in a couple of rejections, the tie was close, especially in a shot by Cazorla that crashed into the post with Diego López already sold. The goalkeeper also allied himself with the crossbar deflecting with his fingertips a dangerous launch of lack of Ontiveros , the revulsive in the last minutes but insufficient to prevent Espanyol from deluding himself with salvation.

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