The Groundhog Day

Too late. The Spanish his party provisionally out of direct promotion, that is, with the minutes against him. But the parakeet team tried to go even more against the clock by allowing the goal of the Lugo. And that is paradoxical, because in turn time has stopped around it. Espanyol was needed to go up to First and the one of the descent appeared until it was too late to achieve that victory that the parrots needed so that the leadership would continue depending on them. They avoid a regrettable streak of three consecutive defeats and retake the second place, as deceptive as that at Almeria He has a pending match and as the feeling that the team of Vicente Moreno: everything that used to fall on his face, now comes out tails or on edge.

Something more than a wall. It is not a coincidence that a Lugo draw who has not lost in the Carriage width since the arrival of Nafti, four months ago, and that he resisted the attacks of Espanyol in the second half with Stakhanovism. The albirojos had already been one of the cleanest adversaries who passed in the first round for Cornellà, where perhaps they deserved something more than 2-1. And his first eight minutes against Espanyol, until his goal, showed a team that knew how to overcome in criteria, in high pressure and, of course, in the set pieces, a parakeet unable to cope with the accumulation of players to the exit of a corner neither on the second nor third play.

All to talent. Single Diego Lopez, the prodigal son who was returning to Lugo 21 years after his departure, saved Espanyol from the defeat in the first half. And, as in the goalkeeper's interventions, little more than the talent and courage of the individuals prevented defeat. This is how he exhibited it Javi puado, both in his goal on the brink of halftime -analled for offside- and his construction of 1-1, which culminated Raúl de Tomás in an innate 'nine' unchecking move. The Madrilenian also started late, although he crashed the winning goal on the post. Meanwhile, an excess of lateral centers as the only way of attack for the entire team. Two shots on goal are too poor a baggage to demand a win.

Conservative eleven. Vicente Moreno did not practice from the beginning nor one more change than necessary despite the fact that the team had suffered two consecutive defeats, with Fran Merida by the sanctioned Darder and the return of David Lopez, that in case there was any doubt, the day there was a vacancy in the midfield, is already central for all purposes. The reverse of the coin that the coach is so clear about his starting team is that the substitutes are taking distances and runs the risk of frustrating a plan B when it is urgently needed.

Dimata and interventionism. The exception to that plan B conforms it from this day Dimata, who made his debut with the Espanyol shirt in the 64th minute not in a favorable circumstance, as Moreno expected, but in the most committed. Nor did the coach expect to have to give rein so quickly to that 4-4-2 with the Belgian and Raúl de Tomás that he suspected for later. Another detail that leaves the entry of the signing, who was very connected and delivered in the work of disordering Lugo's lower block, is that the coach finally removed the bench before the 80th minute, something he had not done in the defeats against Girona Y Vallecano Ray. From there, interventionism was just.

Trembling legs. The combination that allowed Espanyol to be the leader by winning in Lugo and doing so next Sunday fell apart like tears in the rain. The one that fell on Lugo. And now the visit to Majorca, Once palatable, it becomes shaky legs for parakeets, who have a week to reverse that feeling. There are 18 days left, a world, but a defeat could almost definitely dismount him from a high-speed train. And, beyond the result, there is the image of a typecast team, which must come out of its groundhog day as it is. You will hardly do it by doing the same old thing.