Back

1-1: A hard-fought point from the penalty spot

Espanyol earned another point at home after an intense and closely contested match against Badalona Women

With the aim of rediscovering positive feelings and dedicating a victory to Anna Torrodà, recently operated on for a serious knee injury, Espanyol took to the pitch determined to compete from the very first minute. The opening stages were evenly matched, with dangerous attacks at both ends and high intensity throughout. However, in the 19th minute, a penalty strongly protested by the home side allowed Badalona Women to take the lead. Espanyol reacted quickly. Ángeles had a great chance to level the score, but María denied her twice with two excellent saves. Little by little, the home side grew into the game and found their reward in the 29th minute, when Ainoa converted a penalty after a brilliant individual move to restore parity. Before halftime, the blue-and-whites came very close to completing the comeback. Ona had one of the clearest chances of the match at her feet, but her effort sailed over the crossbar when the goal already seemed certain.

After the break, Badalona Women enjoyed more possession, although Espanyol continued to look dangerous on the counterattack. Baudet nearly finished off a great move by Browne, but the visiting defence cleared the danger at the last moment. Later, in the 70th minute, Llompart also came close with a shot that went narrowly wide. Naima responded with a long-range effort before the game took another turn in the closing stages. In the 87th minute, Llompart received her second yellow card after a hard challenge on Paula Perea, leaving the visitors down to ten players. Espanyol pushed until the very end in search of victory and had two clear chances to take all three points, first through Browne and then with a header from Ainoa, but the ball simply would not go in.

As a notable milestone from the match, Paula Perea made her 350th appearance in Liga F after coming on in the second half to replace Ángeles.