Espanyol: Cristian Alvarez; Javi López,
Raúl Rodríguez, Héctor Moreno (Forlín 58'),
Capdevila; Víctor Sánchez, Cristian Gómez; Albín,
Verdú, Wakaso (Sergio Tejera 58'); Alvaro Vázquez (Rui Fonte
78'). 4-2-3-1.
Zaragoza: Roberto; Goni, Alvaro, Paredes,
Abraham; Pinter (Aranda 68'), José Marí; Edu Oriol (Víctor
Rodríguez 46'), Apoño, Paco Montañés (Jorge
Ortí 86'); Hélder Postiga. 4-2-3-1.
Goals:
1-0. 43. Alvaro Vázquez. Picked up Wakaso pass
and fired shot wide of Roberto.
1-1. 51. Apoño (penalty). After
Albín sent off for handling inside the penalty area.
1-2. 88.
Postiga. Poked shot past keeper after defence failed to clear Ortí
cross.
Yellow cards: Albín 24', 50', Wakaso 38', Goni 60', Pinter 67', Víctor Sánchez 78', Víctor Rodríguez 82', Montañés 83', Raúl Rodríguez 85', Cristian Gómez 92' / red cards: Albín 50'.
Espanyol are down in the bottom three pending Sunday's games after losing 1-2 to Zaragoza on Saturday evening. Chances were few and far between in the first half, the best a couple of headers just wide of the mark by Héctor Moreno following Verdú corners. However with the first half coming to a close the unsettled Alvaro Vázque ran on to a long clearance by Wakaso to fire a shot past Roberto in to the roof of the net. Soon after the restart though Albín blocked an innocent looking header with his arm in the penalty area, and Apoño stepped up to drill home the resulting spot kick. Albín picked up a second booking for the offence, and with a man less, Pochettino pulled his players back to defend. Cristian Alvarez and his back four kept out Postiga and Pinter, but with two minutes to go Ortí's cross came through to Postiga, who got ahead of his marker to poke a shot in to the net and give his side their first points of the new campaign.