The last day had all the excitement that it promised in the fight to save itself from the last place of relegation to Second Division, already awarded the first two to Alavés and Levante. In the end, it was Granada that consummated his farewell to the First Division. It was a bit of a surprise because of the three involved in the fight (the others were Cádiz and Mallorca) the Nasrid team was the only one playing at home and started with a point more than the other two.
The three games in which the fight for relegation was defined: Granada-Espanyol, Osasuna-Mallorca and Alavés-Cádiz were marked by the same pattern: a lot of nerves, inaccuracies and little elaborated football. Nobody can put a but to the three teams that did not play anything in the classification. They put up a fight at all times.
The tone of the three parties was of great equality. In Granada, despite the fact that it could be assumed that Karanka’s team would press more in favor of the public, from the beginning it was Espanyol who had more possession in the first half, although the best chances, very few, were from the Nasrids.
In Mendizorroza, with quite a few Cadista supporters in the stands, Sergio González’s team carried the weight of the game, but Cádiz showed their lack of goals, something that has been their handicap this season.
In the Sadar, Javier Aguirre’s Mallorca came out with the bus against an Osasuna that began soft and soulless, but ended the first half by locking the visitors in their area, with goalkeeper Manolo Reina decisive in a couple of actions. There were also no goals in this match in the first half.
However, the second part could not have started better for the vermilion. At 47 minutes, a driving by Maffeo left the ball for Ángel who made the wall with Muriqi and then overcame Sergio Herrera’s exit with a chopped.
From there the game turned for Mallorca, which reached total tranquility in 82, when Grenier made it 0-2 after chasing a rebound from Sergio Herrera after a header from Abdón Prats.
The emotion moved above all to Los Cármenes, where Espanyol’s best game did not translate into goals, but in one against Granada Hernández Hernández awarded a penalty at the hands of Cabrera in a Collado cross. The Canarian referee whistled after seeing the play on the VAR monitor. It was shot by Jorge Molina, already 40 years old, one of the old rockers of Spanish football, but his shot did not hit the goal and he went wide to the relief of Diego López.
It was a real drama for Granada because in minute 76 Cádiz managed to score in Vitoria thanks to a cross from Iza and a point-blank shot from Choco Lozano, who had left three minutes ago. Then, in minute 88, Sánchez Martínes awarded Espino a penalty in favor of Alavés. However, the referee went to the VAR monitor and changed his decision.
Granada lived the last minutes in full siege of Espanyol. He did not have clear chances and he did have several disturbances in the area. The referee gave five extra minutes that did not add mada. Granada went to Second. He had four seasons in First.
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