Espanyol Triumphs at La Cerámica with Cabrera and Fortuño

Leandro Cabrera’s header and a defiant display from goalkeeper Ángel Fortuño dragged Espanyol through a turbulent week and out of Villarreal with a 1-0 win, on a night when the numbers said they should have been swept aside.

Three days after Manolo González was sacked, with the club still between eras and Eder Sarabia watching on from afar because of suspension, it was B-team coach Sergio García who prowled the technical area at the Estadio de la Cerámica. He left with three points, a clean sheet and a dressing room that suddenly feels a little lighter.

A club in flux, a team that refused to bend

This was the opening match of the LaLiga round, and it arrived with Espanyol in awkward shape. González, who had overseen 107 official matches, departed after collecting just one point from the previous 15 available in the league. The slide had been steep; the response had to be sharp.

García, promoted for the night from the B team, did not bring a revolution. He brought clarity. Espanyol sat compact, accepted they would suffer, and trusted that their moments would be few but meaningful.

They were right. Villarreal dominated the ball, the territory, and most of the statistics that usually decide matches. Iñigo Pérez’s side completed 503 accurate passes to Espanyol’s 263. They fired 14 shots to the visitors’ 5. The expected goals tally read 0.92 to 0.26 in the hosts’ favour.

The scoreboard read Villarreal 0-1 Espanyol. That was the only column that mattered.

VAR denial, then a decisive punch

Espanyol thought they had landed the first blow early in the second half. In the 50th minute, Roberto Fernández – already on six LaLiga goals this season – forced the issue in the box and finished, only for VAR to drag the moment back. The replay showed him holding Pau Navarro before scoring. Goal cancelled. Momentum stalled.

For a team low on confidence, that kind of setback often kills belief. This time, it sharpened it.

Ten minutes later, Cabrera stepped forward. Bryan Zaragoza, one of the few Espanyol players able to stretch Villarreal on the break, provided the assist. Cabrera met it and made no mistake in the 60th minute, steering the visitors into a lead that felt almost defiant given the pattern of the game.

From then on, it was about survival. Blocks, clearances, and one goalkeeper who refused to be beaten.

Fortuño’s night

Ángel Fortuño turned Villarreal’s territorial control into an exercise in frustration. Time and again, yellow shirts worked the ball into promising areas. Time and again, they found a goalkeeper in the way.

His positioning was clean, his handling secure, and his composure contagious. Every save seemed to stiffen Espanyol’s resolve. By the final whistle, Fortuño had earned the match’s top player rating of 8.31 and something more valuable: the trust of a back line that had been leaking belief as badly as it had been leaking points.

Villarreal never quite solved him. Their pressure built, the passes kept coming, but the final touch deserted them in front of a goalkeeper who looked like he had decided nothing was getting past him.

Villarreal’s bad luck and blunt edge

Villarreal’s night took an early hit. Gerard Moreno, their reference in attack, limped off with a muscle injury in the 17th minute. Nicolas Pépé came on, but the rhythm changed. The home side still moved the ball, still probed, yet the sharpness around the box dulled.

They had already lost Foyth and Diatta to late withdrawals before kick-off, trimming Pérez’s options at both ends of the pitch. Even so, Villarreal retained the initiative, pinned Espanyol back and controlled the game’s geography.

They just could not break it.

The contest remained competitive without boiling over. Each team collected three yellow cards, and there was no red to distort the balance. It was decided not by controversy, but by one clean set piece, one ruthless finish, and one goalkeeper in form.

Sarabia’s turn comes next

Espanyol had already confirmed Eder Sarabia as head coach on Wednesday 28 October, yet he watched this win from a distance. A two-match suspension kept him away from the touchline at La Cerámica, leaving García to manage the transition and the tension.

Sarabia will inherit a team sitting 12th in the table with 11 points from their opening games, now carrying the memory of a statement away win at a difficult ground. His new staff includes former centre-back Álvaro González, who knows the club from his spell between 2014 and 2017 before moving to Olympique de Marseille. That familiarity will matter as they try to build on this foothold.

Villarreal, for their part, remain 10th with 12 points. The league table says they are fine. Their performance data says they should have taken more from this game. Their schedule offers no time to sulk: Paris Saint-Germain arrive on Tuesday 3 November in the Champions League, a test that will punish any repeat of this wastefulness.

Espanyol return home next, hosting Deportivo La Coruña on Saturday 7 November. Sarabia will finally step into the technical area, taking charge of a side that has just shown it can suffer, hold its nerve and steal a result.

After a week of upheaval, that is a powerful platform to start from.