Both teams came in here with different goals besides winning the match. Espanyol have been on a poor run of late after having an excellent start to the season, where they were in contention for Europe which now looks more like a fading dream.
Sporting Gijón to continue on their excellent run of form which consisted of 4 wins (one against Real Madrid away) a draw away to Villarreal and a loss in their last 6 matches to pull away from the relegation zone and consolidate their place in La Liga.
Sadly during the week the very popular Sporting coach Manolo Preciado lost his father to car accident, for those who don't know the history. He also lost his wife to cancer, and one of his sons to a car accident. Preciado has managed to come through proper personal tragedy and will do so again.
There was a minute silence at El Molinón before the match which was observed with great respect. Espanyol started the match better than Sporting. They were playing at a reasonable tempo, though not really opening them up in the first half. Sporting lifted their game and managed to score from a free kick, but he was only 5m offsisde this would have been let go if it was Real Madrid or Barcelona player. Juan Pablo had to make a couple of saves, whereas for Sporting Eguren missed a very good chance after they opened up the defence and put the shot wide.
It was scoreless at halftime but far from a tedious match. Espanyol were looking to Osvaldo for the goals, whereas Sporting in their attacks weren't able to make the vital pass at the end to finish off the build up play. Second half started in similar vein with Espanyol attempting to force the play, but Sporting settled down well and were pushing forward with some good passing moves not able to really give Kameni something to think about.
Preciado bought on Nacho Novo up front and this proved the master stroke as he was able to poach the only goal of the match. Espanyol defender Raul Rodriguez mistimed a header which went backwards and Novo pounced with a good shot past Kameni. The whole team ran over to Preciado and celebrated the goal with him, which was a touching moment.
Espanyol pushed forward trying to get a result, but really weren't too threatening and Sporting got a very popular win, which was a perfect result after the Preciado family tragedy.
The Espanyol players went over to Preciado and congratulated him. There were great scenes with the Sporting players embracing Super Mario and the fans were in fine voice. Preciado is the longest serving manager in La Liga and should stay with Sporting as long as he wants. The rapport he has with the fans and players is clear to see, even the canalla Mourinho doesn't mind Manolo.
Espanyol's European ambitions have taken a dent and Sporting have achieved their goal of survival with plenty of matches to spare, the main question is how of their players they can hold onto for next season.
This win meant so much for Preciado and the Sportinguistas after the personal tragedy during the week. As much as football is in the lives of many people on earth, there are times when you see football for what it really is, a game that does bring people together in spite of a small group of idiots trying to ruin it.
Manolo Preciado will bounce back and continue his great work with Sporting.
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1 comment:
yes sir! this win pretty much ensures Sporting another season in Primera. Manolo is a good man!
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