Zaragoza stuns Espanyol

Second-half goals from Paulo da Silva and Juan Carlos were enough to hand Real Zaragoza their first win since October 16 with a 2-0 success at Espanyol.

LA LIGA FIXTURES

 

Saturday, March 3
Getafe	1-3	Malaga	Recap
Vallecano	4-2	Santander	Recap
Mallorca	1-1	Osasuna	Recap
Barcelona	3-1	Gijon	Recap
Sevilla	1-1	Atletico	Recap
Sunday, March 4
Zaragoza	2-1	Villarreal	Recap
Bilbao	2-0	Sociedad	Recap
Granada	0-1	Valencia	Recap
Real Madrid	5-0	Espanyol	Recap
Monday, March 5
Levante	3-1	Real Betis	Recap
More: La Liga| Standings|Stats

Philippe Coutinho struck the post and Kalu Uche missed two good opportunities for Espanyol towards the end of the first half before the hosts were shocked 10 minutes into the second period as Da Silva bundled in Luis Garcia's corner.

Coutinho came even closer a minute later as he hit the underside of the bar and the Brazilian was denied by a brilliant save from Roberto with three minutes remaining before the visitors secured the points in stoppage time as Carlos kept his cool to round Kiko Casilla and slot home.

Espanyol had been given a great boost in their quest for a Champions League place on Saturday as Atletico Madrid and Athletic Bilbao both failed to win, but Los Pericos failed to take advantage thanks to a combination of poor finishing and slack defending.

Coutinho came closest to breaking the deadlock in the first half as his curling shot came back off the post and Roberto reacted quickly to block Uche's follow-up effort.

The Nigerian had another great opportunity just before the break but appeared not to realise how much time he had inside the area and snatched his shot over the bar from 12 yards.

The one-way traffic continued at the start of the second half as Ndri Romaric failed to get on the end of a dangerous Coutinho cross before the on-loan Inter Milan winger had another clear sight of goal himself but placed his shot too close to Roberto, who made a comfortable save.

Moments later though it was the visitors who went ahead against the run of play, former Espanyol favourite Garcia's corner finding Da Silva free to thunder in a header at the back post.

The hosts responded immediately and Coutinho was extremely unlucky to see another effort come back off the bar and this time Joan Verdu could not make the most of the rebound as his acrobatic effort went wide.

However, Zaragoza began to find more spaces on the counter-attack as the second period wore on and were twice denied a second as Casilla made good saves from Helder Postiga and Maurizio Lanzaro.

Those stops nearly proved vital as Coutinho again got free inside the area on 87 minutes, but his powerful volley was expertly turned away by Roberto.

And Zaragoza wrapped up a huge win as Ruben Micael's quick free-kick in stoppage time caught the Espanyol defence unawares and Carlos stroked home his third goal of the season.