Espanyol fall in added time after having taken the lead twice  
 

Everything that’s unfair, unjust and cruel about the game took place today on the pitch at Montjuïc, with a Numancia team who only shot five times on the 'Blanquiazul' goal and took all three points. And they did it just when the home fans were savouring a hard fought victory, a triumph of their strength and spirit: having taken the lead twice and beaten the curse of the penalty kicks to make it 3-2 with ten minutes left. Ten minutes in which the away team would throw water on the Perico fire and spoil the party.
 
The match began as if both teams wanted to get things done as soon as possible, to resolve things as early as they could, with assorted chances on goal before all the fans had taken their seats. Espanyol had a Luis García effort denied and Numancia took two dangerous shots although both found Kameni’s arms with ease. It didn’t take long though, almost as predicted, until the scoreline was broken and the Numantine squad had taken the lead. Following a play from Barkero on the left, the ball was scuffed clear by the 'Blanquiazul' defence and landed only metres from the back line when, out of nowhere, appeared Nagore with the mind and the skill to send a missile straight inside the left post.
 
The Pericos took their time to respond to the scare, with a match which lost its fluidity by the minute and in which chances on goal had all but disappeared. But Moisés popped up to connect acrobatically to volley home a poor clearance from inside the box. One all, level scores and sixty minutes left to take the lead.
 
But it just didn’t go as planned because straight from the re-commencement, Numancia showed themselves to be up for this one, more lively than minutes before, as they took control of the ball and searched for their second goal. And it was less than seven minutes before the team from Soria found what they had been searching for when Goiria connected with a ball in the area. Fortunately, Espanyol’s reaction this time wasn’t to sit around and wait for the goal. After a few attacking advances, Jarque managed to score his second goal in two games, hammering home a scrappy equaliser from a corner. This time, though, Márquez’s boys weren’t going to sit back and settle for the draw as they leapt forward in search of the winning goal. The team in blue and white took control of the ball and attacked Juan Pablo’s goal.
 
The seventieth minute of the match proved to be key when Tamudo got inside the Numancia area and beat Cisma for pace who tried to snatch the ball away from the home captain but instead ended up taking the number 23’s ankle. Clear penalty. Again, Tamudo was forced to face his demons but he sent them packing with a screamer of a penalty, full of rage and anger which almost tore the net. Espanyol’s fight had its reward but, of course, the players had yet to hear the fat lady sing.
 
The home team controlled the ball as the clock ticked while the away team squandered half-chance after half-chance. The crowd seemed nervous and their murmuring seemed unjustified and unwarranted but their nightmares came true when Barkero picked up a ball up front and sent a left-footed screamed to Kameni’s left. A 3-all draw.
 
The temperature fell as did the hearts of the 'Blanquiazul' fans in Montjuïc who had just seen three points being snatched unjustly away from them and their beloved team and even the most optimistic of fans couldn’t have had much hope left for a victory after having glanced at what remained of the clock. However, only the most pessimistic of fans could have dared to predict what would happen next. Bellvis found himself one on one and slammed home a shot to steal all three points from an incredulous Catalan crowd. Disbelief at what they had just witnessed and disgust at having lost all three points was widespread throughout the almost 20,000 attendance. Another loss which proves the old adage that football can be the cruellest of mistresses at times.
 
 
Match Stats:
 
RCD Espanyol: Kameni, S.Sánchez, Román (Callejón, min.83), Luis García (Lola, min.73), Beranger, Finnan, Nené, Coro (Valdo, min.59), Jarque, Moisés and Tamudo.
 
CD Numancia: Juan Pablo, Juanra, Cisma, Nagore, Moreno (Dimas, min.73), Del Pino (Bellvis, min.78), Goiria, Barkero, Quero (Ortega, min.90), Boris and Pavón.
 
Referee: Arturo Daudén Ibáñez (Aragón Sch.).
 
Bookings: Numancia: yellow cards for Moreno (min.16), Nagore (min.20), Juanra (min.41), Pavón (min.42), Cisma (min.80). Espanyol: yellow cards for Tamudo (min.80), Lola (min.88).
 
Goals: 0-1, Nagore (min.14); 1-1, Moisés Hurtado (min.33); 1-2, Goiria (min.51); 2-2, Jarque (min.63); 3-2, Tamudo (min.71); 3-3, Barkero (min.84); 3-4, Bellvis (min.92).
 
Attendance: 18,450
 

Márquez: "We’ve got to keep our heads up" 
 
The painful defeat on Sunday evening against Numancia left Márquez in a perplexed frame of mind ahead of the post-match press conference. Straight away, Márquez made it clear he blamed nobody for the defeat. “It was incredible, after having come back into the game, after having created chances and then they get two goals like this is really though, four shots, four goals. These are tough times but we’ve got to keep our heads up and continue forward. In the 38th minute of the second half, we were seventh in the league but from then until the end, each of our attacks became a Numancia counter.”
 
The coach also argued that “it was a cruel defeat because the team did things to deserve to win but also to lose. We’ve got to keep on working and encourage ourselves because it’s not nice to see the [league standiungs] and find out that we’re 16th. Football has these things and we’ve got to accept it.”
 
For the 'Blanquiazul' coach, “we had lots of clear chances to score. We got three goals and, on the other hand, we conceded four. We lacked precision.”