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Match Report: Win at CA Osasuna earns salvation for RCD Espanyol

Los Pericos confirm their LaLiga presence with a 1-2 victory

A hard-fought 1-2 victory for RCD Espanyol at El Sadar, with goals from Carlos Romero and Kike García, put Los Pericos on 45 points in the table with one matchday still to play, securing their top flight survival for another season.

With the standings so tight for two-thirds of the teams in the division, fans and players were keeping an eye on what was happening at other stadiums. Both teams knew that a victory would definitively lift them out of the relegation zone.

The game began with the typical cautious approach, gauging each team's strengths, assessing weaknesses, and avoiding risks. However, from a free kick in midfield came the first serious attack from the home side: A good shot from Ante Budimir that went just over the crossbar. Shortly after, Pere Milla responded, battling for the ball and ultimately firing a shot just wide off a Dolan pass inside the area.

RCD Espanyol’s reward came soon after: a foul on Romero on the edge of the box was finished off by the defender himself, as he pounced on a rebound off the wall and smashed the ball into the back of the net from outside the area.

Osasuna, spurred on by the crowd and trailing 0-1, stepped up their play, and for a few minutes posed a real threat to Dmitrovic. The goalkeeper had to clear a close-range shot from Raúl García with his body. Immediately afterward came another shot, this time from Torró, and Romero cleared almost off the goal line.

The halftime break gave both sides a chance to catch their breath and regain their composure.

Three minutes after the restart, Víctor Muñoz leveled the score for Osasuna, and the game was back to square one.

Romero broke into an attack from his own half, looked up, and spotted Pol Lozano unmarked on the right wing. He played the ball to his teammate, who flicked it on to Dolan inside the box. The Englishman's cross was finished off by Kike García, for another goal for RCD Espanyol in the 53rd minute.

Budimir's next shot, from a corner, was spectacularly saved by Dmitrovic, and in the final stretch of the match Osasuna kept pressing with crosses into the box.

Los Pericos held firm, crowding the central area and launching counter-attacks with their substitutes to break away. Manolo González's men withstood Osasuna's final onslaught to secure a victory at El Sadar and reach their target.