Espanyol return with Alaves win to kickstart hopes of LaLiga survival
Bernardo and Wu Lei scored the goals either side of half time
Espanyol made the perfect restart to the LaLiga season as they beat Alaves 2-0 on Saturday in what they hope will lead to a charge up the league table.
ESP
2 ________________ 0
ALA
LINE UP
Espanyol
Oier; Javi López, Bernardo, Cabrera, Dídac; Melendo (Vargas, 78'), David López (Iturraspe, 85'), Marc Roca; Embarba (Darder, 51'); Wu Lei (De Tomás, 51'), Calleri (Ferreyra, 85').
Alavés
Pacheco; Navarro, Laguardia, Rodrigo Ely (Pina, 56'), Duarte; Martín, Camarasa (Borja Sainz, 82'), Fejsa (Luis Rioja, 56'), Édgar Méndez (Roberto, 21'); Aleix Vidal (Pons, 46'), Burke.
Goles
1-0 M.45 Bernardo. 2-0 M.47 Wu Lei.
Árbitro
González Fuertes (asturiano). TA: Embarba (3'), Wu Lei (26'), De Tomás (73'), Calleri (85') / Laguardia (52'), Luis Rioja (65'). TR: Pacheco (19')
Campo
RCDE Stadium. A puerta cerrada.
The Barcelona side were bottom of the table when the campaign was suspended in March but will believe they can stay up based on this performance at the RCDE Stadium.
Alaves will lament the early sending off of goalkeeper Fernando Pacheco, who handled the ball outside of the box, but even considering that Los Pericos were far too good for their visitors.
Bernardo opened the scoring the third minute of stoppage time and Wu Lei added the second shortly after the break, in the 47th minute.
The only disappointment from Espanyol coach Abelardo's point of view is that his side didn't score more. They had plenty of chances, with one of the best ones falling to Sergi Darder late on.
The win moves Espanyol on to 23 points, just three behind Celta Vigo, who are fourth bottom and were beaten at home to Villarreal on Saturday.
With 10 games to go -- including a derby against Barça at Camp Nou -- the dream is alive for Espanyol.
Topics with the letter
