With the encounter before him Castellón already looming on the horizon , the Espanyol squad is clear that their victory last Saturday against the Logroñés must serve as a beacon on which to guide in the remaining 12 days. For the control of the game and, above all, for what football decides, that defines the difference towards a promotion: mastery of the areas. The 4-0 of the last day changed drastically a very dangerous trend.
LaLiga SmartBank
* Data updated as of March 23, 2021
Until the visit of Logroñés to the RCDE Stadium, Espanyol had more shots on goal received by their rivals throughout the second round (31 in total) than they had been able to do, 29 in those eight days. An extremely worrying data for a squad a priori superior to all its rivals and full of gunpowder. Only in two games had he kicked more than his opponent, and to top it off none resulted in a victory: against Sporting (1-1) and against Girona (0-1). The passage of ten days ago by Anduva to face the Mirandés had been the record of kicks received between the three sticks, eight, for only three in favor.
Nevertheless, against Logroñés records were reversed in just 90 minutes. Not a single shot on goal by the albirrojos, obviously the least amount in the 30 games that have been played in the Second Division, and up to 12 in favor, something that he had never achieved before. Vicente Moreno's Espanyol. And precisely the day that Raúl de Tomás, his top scorer, did not play. Some figures that are much more similar to those that led the parakeet team to finish as winter champion, at the end of the first round with 86 shots on goal made, by 55 received. Whoever dominates the areas dominates soccer.