Espanyol, presumed innocent

Where is Koundé? It was the 25th minute. The game was so extremely direct that, paradoxically, the television signal did not arrive on time and he had to show it delayed. Diego López served a long ball, Raúl de Tomás controlled by exceeding the center of the field and on the run he beat Bono with a beautiful balloon. Espanyol celebrated it, two parakeets were unmasked in the stands of Sánchez Pizjuán. But González Fuertes, it is not clear if at the request of his lineman or already assisted through the earpiece by Martínez Munuera in the VOR, he raised his arm. Offside. The third in two games for the blue and white team and for RdT, who fit him stunned. Although, to astonishment, the image that the VAR offered as the strongest possible demonstration. The illegal position of the parakeet forward was outlined, leaving Koundé out of the picture, who could be enabling him on his right. Never, in the long hour following the game, was another take shown. Guilty. No proof of the crime.

Jordán and Quique on the retina. Until that moment, an expert, a youth squad, had focused the spotlight, although due to his effusive 1-0 celebration it might not seem so. It was masterfully cooked by Joan Jordán, before Navas served it on the plate and En-Nesyri devoured it on the table, although the retina of parakeet fans had inevitably turned to that summer of 2017 when Quique Sánchez Flores dispensed with without complexes of that promising midfielder –which had already emerged on loan at Valladolid– to deliver it for just over a million to Eibar, like someone selling a valuable object at Wallapop due to an urgent change of address.

The 'alter ego' Darder. “I just want to play where they want me,” Jordán confessed upon his arrival in Ipurua. In defense of Sánchez Flores, today –and for a long time– without a team, his commitment to Marc Roca, as much as that projection does not justify his disdain for the now Sevilla player. A path similar to that of Jordán traced a Darder – welcomed by Málaga when Pochettino did not provide him with opportunities at Espanyol – who did return, like a prodigal son. And that, as if it were a battle between two ways of understanding the Espanyol quarry, he replied to the 1-0 of Sevilla with a tremendous shoe that only Bono, not without much trouble, moved away from the meshes.

Guerrilla Aleix. Vicente Moreno had revealed during the week that, if it had depended on Aleix Vidal, on Wednesday he would have played as a starter, not 72 hours after his bleeding on his right leg at Villamarín. That it was not lip service was demonstrated by his return to Seville, now to Sánchez Pizjuán, to one of his houses, and initially with the 15 stitches still in the tibia. It was also his first appearance at Espanyol as a right-handed winger, in which not only did he not clash, but may have come to stay.

Discomplexed. That mantra begins to be true, sometimes an excuse and always useless – because lost points, like youth, never come back – that Espanyol has fewer points than it deserves. Perhaps the exception to the rule was at Villamarín, where the parrots drew a more rogue than fair draw. And yet, against Sevilla, they once again offered highly competitive minutes, a shameless attack – De Tomás, Dimata and Loren ended up playing together – or clear occasions such as Darder and a couple of Cabrera in the area, just as they had shown against Villarreal, Atlético and Osasuna. Four games among which have only added two points those of Vicente Moreno, who on the next day will face their most difficult yet: the visit to the RCDE Stadium of Real Madrid. And they will, sure, uncomplexed.