Espanyol 0 - Rayo Vallecano 0

Espanyol: Mora; Cristóbal, Nando (Morales 46'), Pochettino, Roger; Toni Velamazán, Sergio, Galca, Arteaga (De Lucas 62'); Martín Posse, Oscar (Manel 68'). 4-4-2.
Rayo: Lopetegui; Alcázar, De Quintana, Ballesteros, Mingo; Michel, Helder (Pablo Sanz 60', Iván Iglesias 72'), Poschner, Setvalls (Mauro 55'); Quevedo, Bolo. 4-4-2.

Team changes: Espanyol: Velamazán, Martín Posse for De Lucas, Manel / Rayo: None.

Goals: None.

As this game approached so did the bad weather in Barcelona, and Espanyol were concerned that for the third time this season they could have another abandoned match on their hands. The tie was brought forward to give the Catalan side time to prepare for Wednesday night's postponed fixture against Real Sociedad, a game that was called off at half time due to a heavy rainstorm two weeks ago. With European football looming for the next two weeks, any further delays in their schedule could have had dire consequences.

In the end however the only lightning to appear in their Montjuic stadium was on the Rayo Vallecano shirts (Rayo means lightning in Spanish), with the weather finally doing them a favour and holding up throughout this match. The game itself was boring though, and some of the supporters would probably have preferred the match to have been abandoned once again rather than sit through another 90 minutes of anguish. After a promising start, Espanyol have started to slide down the table, and once again they were unable to score at home. Their manager Paco Flores did at least have a couple of reinforcements, with Velamazán returning from Sydney and Martín Posse recovering from the flu that kept him out of the last match. Their other Olympian, Tamudo, was not fit however, and he had to watch the match from the stands. Tamudo is the man they need at the moment, but with the club short of cash, the under 21 striker is probably going to be sold to Glasgow Rangers in the very near future, despite the opposition of the supporters who chanted his name during the duller moments of this game.

Rayo's manager Juande Ramos is still missing Luis Cembranos, and so he named an unchanged line up, with Michel filling the Spanish international's shoes. They had the best of the earlier minutes, and were unlucky when referee Fernández Marín ignored what looked like a valid claim for a penalty on Setvalls in one of the opening plays. Slowly Espanyol came back, and after Oscar also had a penalty appeal turned down, the home-based striker hit the post with a good shot. Morales came on at half time for Nando for the home side, with Galca dropping back to the centre of defence, and he went close with a shot just past the post shortly after coming on. Juande Ramos brought on Pablo Sanz and he almost scored from Poschner's free kick, but ten minutes later he had to go off after picking up an injury. Lopetegui then proved why he is considered one of the most on-form keepers in the league at the moment, saving from substitute Manel and then from Velamazán near the end.

With five minutes to go Fernández Marín got out his yellow card to book Poschner for a foul. The German midfielder, forgetting himself, asked the referee in his native language why he had done that. Fernández Marín doesn't speak German, but he sure knows when someone is being abusive, and he immediately changed the yellow for a red, sending the player of the field. Later he said in his report that "the player addressed me in an unintelligible language, clearly in disconformity with my labour". Surprisingly the appeal committee upheld the sending off, suspending Poschner for one game. It didn't matter much as Lopetegui and his defence held on to maintain their ten match unbeaten run, keeping them in fifth place in the league. Espanyol drop down near the bottom of the table, and with the possibility of other players leaving the club to help bolster the clubs finances, they could have a hard season. Spies from Fiorentina were in the crowd watching Sergio and Roger, and one of them could be next.