A tie that wasn’t enough
Atlético de Madrid was better than Espanyol, had the chances, but met a great Casilla who stopped everything.
Espanyol: Casilla; Arbilla, Álvaro, Héctor Moreno, Duarte; Lucas Vázquez, Abraham (Cañas, 46’), Javi López, Víctor Sánchez (Salva Sevilla, 79’); Caicedo (Stuani, 59’) and Sergio García.
Atlético de Madrid: Moyá; Juanfran, Miranda, Godín, Gámez; Raúl García, Tiago, Gabi (Arda Turan, 66’), Koke; Griezmann (Raúl Jiménez, 82’) and Fernando Torres (Giménez, 45’).
Referee: Vicandi Garrido (Basque Committee). Direct red to Miranda (45’). Booked the locals Álvaro (8’), Víctor Sánchez (38’) and Víctor Sánchez (59’); and the visiting Gabi (42’), Tiago (58’) and Raúl García (77’).
Atlético de Madrid had a strong beginning in Cornellà, creating occasions, both in plays and in set pieces, to make trouble for Casilla. Espanyol’s goalie had to save a header from Torres on 12 minutes, deflecting the shot to the corner. On the corner kick, Koke warned with a shot that was lost grazing the post. Afterwards, on 17”, Casilla stopped a shot by Gabi from the edge of the box. And, on the 22nd, a counterattack ended with a shot from Griezmann who passed near the post. That was our team’s background. On the other hand, Moyá did not have to intervene in the first half.
For his part, in the last minute of the first half, Vicandi Garrido sent Miranda off, which immediately caused Simeone to decide to substitute Torres with Giménez, towards the second half.
The second half, despite having one player less, was purely red and white. The ball was ours, as were the occasions. Espanyol only had a shot that Moyá saved on the 57th minute. And, on the other hand, we were closer to the goal with a header from Griezmann which Casillas saved but, especially with the shot from Raúl García, saved by the goalkeeper and deflected to the corner. Even at the end we could have won but the initial scoreboard did not budge. Tie at Cornellá and thinking about Bayer Leverkusen on Tuesday.
