Espanyol climb to second after win at Huesca
HUESCA: Espanyol continued their rampant run of form by beating basement club Huesca 2-0, recording a third win in four games to climb up to second in the La Liga standings behind city rivals Barcelona.
Borja Iglesias tapped in the first of his two goals shortly before half-time thanks to a perfectly placed diagonal pass from Didac Vila. The striker sealed the win with a dink in the 64th minute.
Before then, midfielder Victor Sanchez had a goal ruled out for offside following a consultation with the video assistant referee (VAR), which had also been used to award Iglesias’ opening goal after appeals from the home side.
Espanyol, coached by Rubi who led Huesca to promotion to the top flight for the first time last season, are the only team in La Liga to have won every home game this season but had not tasted victory away this campaign until visiting Huesca.
If Espanyol win at Real Valladolid on Friday, they will provisionally go top of the standings. “Just imagine how exciting it is for us to see us up there at the top of the league one point behind Barcelona, but we want more, we won’t settle for this,” said Espanyol defender David Lopez.
“We’re not thinking about putting limits on ourselves. No-one wins the league in week 10 but the fact we are up there means we are doing things the right way.”
Rubi’s side are second in the standings on 17 points, one behind Barca, while stuttering European champions Real Madrid slipped down to seventh place after Real Valladolid sprang a surprise 1-0 win at Real Betis and climbed into sixth.
Alaves, also on 17 points, are third, with Sevilla in fourth and Atletico Madrid in fifth.
Espanyol’s win also means two teams from Barcelona occupy the top two places in La Liga for the first time since December 2004.
Second-bottom Rayo Vallecano were beaten 2-1 at home by Getafe, while Eibar and Athletic Bilbao drew 1-1 in a Basque derby.