He Espanyol suffered much more than expected this Wednesday to prevail over a combative and intense Llagostera that made things very complicated for him in the cupbearer's debut. And it is that the blue and white team needed to go to extra time to stay alive and seal the pass for the next round. Very weak party of the parakeets.
A lone goal from Javi Puado at the start of extra time It served for Espanyol to continue ahead in the Cup after a competitive match in which they failed to impose their theoretical superiority and that they played for many minutes in numerical superiority by the red that the local Monreal saw in the 65 '.
Even Llagostera missed a penalty to have advanced on the scoreboard in the 29th minute, when Oier stopped the maximum penalty from Sergio Cortés.
Poor image that Espanyol left in its premiere cupbearer, without gunpowder and with very little light in the medullary, in contrast to the Llagostera who gave a lot of war and fell with his head very high, with a lot of self-love in his duel against a team of superior category and budget.
Vicente Moreno gave rest to key pieces such as Diego López, David López and RDT, giving entry to men with few minutes like Pol Lozano and Vargas or the subsidiary as Ricard Pujol and Carreras.
It was soon seen that Llagostera was not going to be a troupe and that it wanted to make the parrots bitter at night. The high pressure of locals prevented Espanyol from getting the ball clean, which made him play uncomfortable, unable to associate himself with danger.
Fran Merida He was one of the most active and put the local goal to the test with two long shots. Those of Vicente Moreno they had the ball but until the edge of half an hour they did not bring danger to the rival area. In 25 ', Embarba invented a poisoned kick but Marcos, goalkeeper local, it showed off. And two minutes later Fran Merida He also had it but his shell skimmed the pole. They squeezed the parakeets, but Llagostera scared with their vertical football. And it made a profit.
Llagostera missed a penalty
In the 29 ', in a quick action Pol Lozano made an innocent penalty on Pere Martínez. Sergio Cortes, the local specialist, launched the maximum penalty but Oier guessed the launch and stopped it, marking the very clear local occasion.
The set spurred Espanyol, injured by local harassment, and in the 37th minute, Embarba deserved the goal but goalkeeper Marcos showed off.
In the resumption Vicente Moreno moved the bench giving entry to Puado and Nico Melamed. And it seemed that everything was put in his face at 65 'with the red one that Monreal saw for an entrance on Wu Lei. But the Llagostera continued to fight and stand up.
Espanyol intensified its harassment, playing in superiority, but the locals never lost their face to the pulse. The clearest occasions, yes, were parakeets, well Calero (84 '), Max (88') and above all, Nico Melamed (88 ') they had the unsuccessful goal in their boots, as the local goalkeeper Marcos was a wall, very inspired.
With the tie, the extension was reached. And soon Espanyol put the sixth gear looking for the goal that was being denied. So in 93 ', a great center of Miguelón was topped with a head by Javi Puado to the bottom of the net. Nico and the 'MonitoThey were able to extend the advantage, but it was difficult for the parrots to strike well due to the good defense of a combative Llagostera.
The Blue and White team kept pushing but they never had the lucidity or many more clear scoring chances to have opened a gap and sentenced. It's more, Oriol Alsina's team, with more heart than head and legs, he disturbed the parakeets to the last breath, falling head high before the upper club.