Espanyol 5 - Zaragoza 0

Espanyol: Mora; Cristóbal, Soldevilla, Rotchen, Toledo; Velamazán (Navas 77'), Sergio, Galca, Roger; Martín Posse (Oscar 72'), Tamudo (Nishizawa 75'). 4-4-2.
Zaragoza: Juanmi; Cuartero (Corona 46'), Paco, César Jiménez, Rebosio, Lanna; Juanele, Aragón, Vellisca (Ferrón 57'); Jamelli (Montenegro 46'), Yordi. 5-3-2.

Team changes: Espanyol: Rotchen for Pochettino / Zaragoza: Rebosio, Yordi for José Ignacio, Montenegro.

Goals:
1-0. 12. Sergio. Screamer from 30 yards out which entered top corner of goal.
2-0. 20. Velamazán. Toe poked past keeper after goalmouth scramble.
3-0. 23. Roger. Controlled long pass from Galca and beat keeper.
4-0. 63. Velamazán. Shot across Juanmi after through ball from Posse.
5-0. 84. Oscar. Trapped ball on right of area and lobbed over Juanmi.

After a turbulent week in Montjuic, with rumours of financial difficulties and players leaving the club, the team responded the best way they could, thrashing a depleted Zaragoza side by one of the biggest margins seen since Espanyol moved to the Olympic stadium. After the euphoria earlier in the week about the return of old boy Lardín on loan from Atlético (in the stands for this game), fans were upset to hear that Pochettino was to leave with immediate effect for Luis Fernández's Paris Saint Germain, and the news that Galca could be leaving shortly too on a free transfer after the club admitted that they didn't have the money to pay his Pta 200 million net salary sent them into uproar. For some time now they have been trying to sell their second string players such as Rotchen, De Lucas, Manel or Serrano, but the only offers they received were for key players such as Sergio and Tamudo, and in the end they were forced to accept the best offer they could to pay their debts. The sale of their Sarria stadium a couple of seasons ago brought in 8,500 million, but with a total of debt of over 11,000 million this still left 2,500 million outstanding, and that has grown to almost twice that since then.

With the news about Galca reaching far afield, scouts from several clubs, including Arsenal, were in the stand watching. They must have gone away impressed after this performance, with Galca in superb form setting up the third goal with a precision pass to Roger and rattling the crossbar in the second half with a free kick. Sergio too added a few hundred million to his valuation with the first goal in the twelfth minute, a stunning drive from outside of the area which gave Juanmi no chance, and Tamudo was a constant menace for the Zaragoza defence. Rotchen too impressed, replacing Pochettino in the centre of defence. True Zaragoza were missing many of their key players, with José Ignacio finally dropping out in the pre-match warm up after aggravating an injury, and Radimov having to get changed quickly to take a seat on the subs bench, with César coming in to the starting line up. Lanna was another player probably making his last appearance before going on to Milan, and Pablo came back although he was still not fully recovered from his injury. With Esnaider, Acuña, Rebosio, Aguado, Sundgren and Garitano unfit, and players tired after their midweek defeat against Real Madrid, the club had asked Espanyol to delay the game until Sunday, but with a vital cup match against Barcelona on Tuesday their request was turned down.

Paco Flores was aware of Zaragoza's position, and decided to catch them early on. The tactic worked, and with only a quarter of the match gone they already had three, and could have had more if their shots had been on target. Zaragoza's first shot at goal came seven minutes before half time from an Aragón free kick which sailed over the bar, and at half time Costa sent for reinforcements, bringing on Montenegro and Corona. Under 21 international Toni Velamazán was another man on form, and he got his second of the match after Posse set him up. With the game won Flores rested his front two, bringing on Nishizawa, who was being watched by Japan's manager Troussier, and Oscar, and ten minutes from time he allowed the crowd to applaud Velamazán, replacing him with Navas. With six minutes to go Oscar put the icing on the cake, lobbing the keeper with a delightful chip which had the crowd on their feet. It was his first goal for his new club, and came only an hour or so after his brother Roger had got his first of the season in the first half. The financial problems were forgotten as Espanyol moved away from the danger zone with their second victory in a row. Zaragoza have had a bad week, letting in eight goals in three days after going eleven games without defeat, and they have to forget that and play an important cup tie at Racing on Wednesday. They will drop down the table again after Sunday's matches, although that should not be a problem once their key players are fit again.