Spanish: Time.news, goals and result

Espanyol has started losing 17 of the 24 games this season in the League. A statistic that perfectly sums up why it is flirting with relegation. In Valladolid, the white-and-blues scored first again and ended up with another defeat, this time against a direct rival in the fight to avoid relegation. The umpteenth stumble that punctures the balloon of optimism that was breathing in the parakeet dressing room after having strung together two consecutive victories. In Pucela he has lost all three points, and would also have lost the one goal average with the Castilians if it hadn’t been for Braithwaite’s goal at the end.

It was a very loose game against a rival that was in the water up to its neck and that started the day in relegation positions. While Espanyol started to play without intensity, Valladolid wanted to eat the turf from the start. In fact, they managed to score in the fourth minute, although Larin’s goal was disallowed by a millimeter offside. It was a bad omen, a symptom that Diego Martínez’s people were not up to the task. The misfortunes were chained together with the injury of Brian Olivan, who had to be replaced when not even ten minutes had been played. His replacement, Ronael Pierre-Gabriel, has not contributed to improving things. Rather the opposite: he ended up being substituted in the second half. For dessert, the team was not accompanied by fortune either in an Iván Sánchez shot from the front. The shot was deflected slightly by Darder and ended up in the back of Pacheco’s goal. This goal did go up on the scoreboard.

Valladolid, sense gunpowder

Espanyol didn’t rult and Valladolid arrived with danger in almost every attack. But the Castilians, who have a lot of problems scoring – they score less than one goal per game on average – wasted the arrivals and gave time for the white-and-blues to react. Diego, who had started the duel with a 4-3-3, has switched to a 4-4-2, keeping Braithwaite and Joselu up front and pushing Denis back. The reaction, of course, has been timid. Just a few minutes of clairvoyance during which some dangerous shots have arrived. One of them, on the crossbar, from Puado.

The white-and-blue hopes have been completely diluted in the second half. Diego kept making changes, swapping position players and ending up with a three-man defense. With so many comings and goings the team got dizzy and Valladolid, which is nothing out of the other world, had a free way to extend the advantage. Aguado made the second finisher without opposition from Plata’s cross. And the latter could have made the third, since he had a hand-to-hand with Pacheco, but he kicked at the post.

Braithwaite’s goal

The game was so peaceful for Valladolid that Pucela’s team fell asleep. Braithwaite, after a good assist from Darder, was able to cut the distance with a cross shot in the 85th minute. A goal that put the Castilians on alert, who gathered to defend the result. They managed it without too many problems because, despite Espanyol’s step forward to try to draw a draw, they didn’t have a single chance with face and eyes. The team is doomed to suffer to save the category.