Espanyol 2 v 0 Genoa

Espanyol 2 v 0 Genoa.The Espanyol fans flocked to the RCDE Stadium, to see their hero’s first home game of the season back in Division 1.

In what has been dubbed in most quarters as “mission impossible”, this seasons Espanyol find themselves in Division 1 , three seasons too early. The current side is ranked 52 out of 100, having taken the route to build for the long term, but despite their lowly rating the team has continued to defy the odds, which included promotion last season which was not envisaged by the stats until the end of season 23.

Espanyol went into the game without their highest rated player, Di Maria who is still recovering from a broken arm and had decisions to make across the team on who would get the nod.

Last seasons Youth cup engine room hero Stiller, who is also expected to be this seasons youth cup kingpin, was brought in, to start the match ahead of close season signings Ilic and Vieira. Whilst Smith-Rowe, and Almada made up a very young central midfield. With Di Maria out, Swedish wide player Karlsson was chosen ahead of Silas and Elanga, whilst at the back D’ambrosio surprisingly kept his place at rightback ahead of Kristensen.

Genoa have a team of stars and their ratings at kick off dwarfed that of the spanish side.In a end to end first half both sides had chances, with Karlsson, Ibrahimovic and Stiller testing Navas for Espanyol, whilst Genoa’s Gouri and Gravenbach both going close on a couple of occassions. Neither side could find a breakthrough though as they went in at halftime goalless.

Espanyol were quick out the traps in the second half and veteran forward Ibrahimovic found Eric Garcia, and the Spanish centre back curled a sublime shot past Navas to silence the away support. Espanyol then pushed for a second and in the 64th minute man of the match Otavio found Karlsson whose low shot found its way past Navas to give the homeside a deserved 2-0 lead. Genoa didn’t really recover from that moment on and the homeside limited them to brief moments with some excellent game management.

“It was nice to win the game, keep a clean sheet and give our fans something to cherish. Since i arrived, we’ve continually punched above our weight and defied the odds. We hear the term “building” thrown around a lot. However our ethos has always been the same, try and win games and be successful on the pitch each season. Yes we have been building the long term foundations, however we continue to overachieve each season with tonight another typical example of “Project Espanyol” . We are under no illusions where are team currently sits, but know that we now have the squad which will improve season upon season with the personnel we have already in the building. We will have some tough nights this season, so its important we celebrate the nice results when we get them, as its a snippet of what will be achieved long term”