Brilliance in Barcelona!

Top 100 Shield

Round 3

Game of the Night

Last night saw Espanyol welcome the mighty Bayern Munich in the third round of the Top 100 Shield. A disappointing 25,282 turn out at Estadi Cornella-El Prat showed what Espanyol fans expected from their side with around 10,000 of the fans being away supporters hoping to witness a thumping victory for their side. Having recorded a solid victory over Augsburg in round 1 and a surprise win on penalties over Liverpool in round 2, Espanyol came into the game in good form. Bayern progressed to the third round with a bye in round 1 and a shaky win on penalties against Standard Liege in round 2. When drawn against each other both managers had different reactions. Earle was excited for his players but knew that it was one of the hardest challenges they'd face, despite this he displayed confidence in his squad and made very few changes. At Bayern Brar was very happy with the draw. An easy lower division side with not much to offer against their all star B team seemed a perfect break from Division 1 fixtures.

Captain and Keeper

The gulf in class showed when the line ups were released. For Espanyol, veteran Volkan Demirel wore the Captains armband in goal with new signings Aytac Sulu and Alexand Epureanu lining up in defence. Atiba Hutchinson and Jony Rodriguez played along side them in the full back positions. Fernando Bob held the centre of midfield with Nathan Redmond and Aatif Chahechouhe playing on the wings. Samuel Eto'o completed the diamond in midfield offering support to Sandro Wagner and Andy Delort up front. The squad was backed up by subs such as Eloy Room, Christian Kabasele, Marios Oikonomou, Lukas Rupp, Salvador Agra, Sofiane Hanni and Michiel Kramer. When a Bayern fan was asked about this line up this is what was said;

"Who? Demicheles in goal? I though he was a defender, although he never was any good. Don't know any of those defenders, not one. Eto'o? He still plays, you're kidding? He must be at least 40, no? I know Wagner, doesn't offer much on the ball, he's slow and has no control, just big is all, should be easy to handle I expect a comfortable 4-0 win".

A contrasting side lined up for Bayern with 22-year-old Sergio Rico starting in goal. Youth star Fortuna Wallace lined up with Javi Martinez in the centre of defence with Seamus Coleman and Abdul Baba completing the defence. Luiz Danilo paired with Ilkal Gundogan in midfield with Alcantara Thiago in a more forward role. Christian Eriksen and Douglas Costa provided the width with Harry Kane playing solo up front. Names such as Mario Gotze, Andres Iniesta, Blaise Matuidi and Kostas Manolas all lined the bench for the Germans. Gary Neville, Jamie Carragher and Michael Owen all tipped Bayern to win by at least 3 goals while Emile Heskey went against them and joked about an Espanyol victory. Bookies also had Bayern the strong favourites at 2/19 while Espanyol had odds of 12/1.

First half hero

With the stadium partially empty the visitors kicked off to the roar of "BAYERN!" BAYERN!". From the centre spot the ball was played out to Costa who darted up the wing and into the box driving in a low ball to Eriksen who smashed home past the helpless Demirel within 60 seconds to make it 1-0. With that a number of Espanyol fans got up and left expecting the crushing defeat they had foreseen. Bayern continued to dominate, controlling the ball and the speed of the play. Frustration built up and Delort dived into a challenge leaving Kane on the ground and resulting in a yellow card for the Frenchman. The pressure remained high from Bayern but a quick counter resulted in a corner for Espanyol. Eto'o placed the ball and whipped in a dipping cross, the ball was heading straight to Martinez when Wagner dived in front of him heading the ball into the goal to make it 1-1. The German fans fell silent while the Spaniard went ballistic. The Bayern defence looked around in shock while Sergio Rico stood screaming a Martinez for not attacking the ball. Kicking off again the Germans looked to have lost confidence, a few sloppy passes gave Espanyol some more time on the ball which they used well and capitalised on. A deep ball off the wing from Redmond was headed clear to Bob who was waiting on the edge of the box, Bob squared the ball to Wagner who curled the ball around Wallace and past the diving Rico into the top corner. Once again the Espanyol fans were ecstatic while the Germans stood in despair. Brar looked lost on the sideline while Earle celebrated with the subs. With 25 minuted gone the Spaniards were in the lead. Espanyol continued to press forward with efforts from Wagner and Delort narrowly missing. Bayern ended the half with a swift move which put Kane in on goal, the forward burst through the defence and slipped the ball past the keeper, however the ball struck the post and went behind. The teams wen in at half time with Espanyol leading 2-1. 

Last minute goal scorer

As the second half kicked off Bayern looked to press for an equaliser. Efforts from Kane and Costa came close but were unable to get the better of Demirel. With 15 minutes gone in the second half both sides mad changes. Iniesta, Gotze and Manolas replaced Wallace, Danilo and Thiago for Bayern as they looked to take the game. Earle took a different approach bringing on Oikonomou, Kabasele and Agra for Wagner, Bob and Rodriguez in an attempt to hold the lead. Epureanu moved up to midfield with Chahechouhe moving up front.  Espanyol were able to hold possession and keep the Germans at bay until another explosive run from Costa opened up the defence. The Brazilian played in Gundogan who slipped a controlled ball past Demirel. The German celebrations were limited as they looked to get the game going again quickly to get a winner. With Bayern pushing for a winner Espanyol were just hanging on. Gotze tested Demirel with a curling effort but the Turkish keeper made a sensational diving save to keep the game level. With 5 minutes left Agra set off down the wing in a blistering run but his cross was blocked by Coleman resulting in an Espanyol corner. Eto'o played a high cross to the far post which was met by Epureanu who headed back across the face of goal, as the ball pinged Kabasele lunged in clipping the ball through the legs of Manolas on the line and into the goal. The Belgian defender ran to the fans tailed by Redmond and Oikonomou with the rest of the team close behind. The subs joined them while the stands bounced. The German fans sat silent as they saw their hopes of progressing dashed in the final minutes while their manager sat with his head in his hands and the players anylised their mistakes. With just 4 minutes left Bayern looked desperate with some unwise forced passes and a hopeless 35 yard effort. Having given away possession Bayern couldn't recover and time ran out. The ref blew the whistle to celebrations in the crowd and the pitch. The Bayern players sat in disbelief as their manager spared a quick handshake before disappearing down the tunnel followed shortly by his players. The Espanyol players stayed out for a while to thank the faithful fans who had stayed the whole game. Despite the loss Christian Eriksen was voted man of the match with a rating of 8. Demirel also received a rating of 8 while Sergio Rico was rated 3 after conceding 3 goals from 4 on target. 

Following the match Earle and several players took part in interviews. Earle said the following;

"Well what a result, who would have thought that? Especially after that start. Bayern were unlucky I must say but Volkan (Demirel) was outstanding tonight in goal. I'm very happy with Sandro (Wagner) who now has 3 goals in 3 games in the shield. I think Sergio (Rico) has had a tough night, he's not been given an easy job with some of the goals we scored where he was left helpless, but you know that's football, I'm delighted as are the players and I'm sure the fans are too. Now we get back to training and prepare for our next game". Captain Volkan Demirel and double goalscorer Sandro Wagner were also asked about their reactions. Demirel had this to say; "A great performance and a great result. We were on the back foot for a lot of it and despite conceding 2 I'm happy with my contribution today". Wagner had a similar reaction; "We played as a team, we knew they had a strong team and it would be hard to break them down, by playing in the air we took a lot of their defensive ability out of them and it clearly payed off. I'm happy with my performance but its even better that we got the win". Man of the Match also provided an interview; "Thank you for the award but it's tough to properly appreciate. It's not what we expected and I think we'll have to have a look at our performance and break down our mistakes. Well done to Espanyol, we wish them the best of luck in the next round". 

Other Results

Chievo Verona beat Swiss side Basel 5-2 in a high scoring thriller, Juventus won 5-1 against Leicester with Napoli defeating Fiorentina 3-0 and and Roma beat Chelsea with the same score. Tottenham and Barcelona both won 1-0 against Dnipro and Hoffenheim respectively. Everton also beat Schalke 1-0. River Plate, Porto, Arsenal, Feynoord, Torino and Rubin Kazan all progressed after winning on penalties. Next round will see 7 Italian sides progress with the most anticipated matches being Napoli hosting Tottenham and Lazio facing Arsenal. Favourites Barcelona face Torino with Juventus taking on a tough Porto side. Feynoord will host Everton and Roma travel to Argentina to play River Plate. Inter will take on Rubin Kazan while Espanyol travel to Chievo Verona.