Escandell Saves a Real Oviedo Side that Deserved More

Real Oviedo travelled to Málaga this weekend for their Matchday 10 fixture in LaLiga Hypermotion. Javi Calleja's side were looking to carry their recent good spirits and results at the Carlos Tartiere into today's away match. The Coach made two changes to the starting eleven, opting for Aarón Escandell, Luengo, Costas, Dani Calvo, Pomares, Colombatto, Sibo, Cazorla, Chaira, Sebas Moyano, and Alemão.

 

Real Oviedo began the encounter strongly, and had the early chances. The first opportunity fell to Sebas Moyano in the 8th minute. Cazorla's corner dropped to the winger inside the box, but his effort went over the bar. Shortly afterwards, Los Azules would go close from another corner. Dani Calvo brought the ball down inside the box and got his shot away, but his attempt was cleared off the line. Javi Calleja's side continued to dominate, but the score remained goalless. Ilyas Chaira was next to try his luck from the edge of the area, before Sebas Moyano was denied by Alfonso Herrero. After the half-hour mark the encounter became more even. However, the defence managed to deal with the attacks down the wing from Kevin and Larrubia. The only setback of the first half was Pomares' injury, with the left back needing to be replaced by Rahim.

 

The second half began with Alemão running on to a through ball from Ilyas, but his powerful effort was dealt with by Alfonso Herrero. Los Azules once again demonstrated that they were deserving of the lead, but the goal didn't quite materialise. Hassan and Seoane came on in place of Chaira and Cazorla in the 62nd minute to freshen up the attack. Alemào was a constant threat for the home defence, and he went close with an overhead kick in the 66th minute, but it went just over the bar.

The match then developed an end-to-end stage, but Real Oviedo would again have opportunities. A counter attack led by Sebas saw Hassan go through one-on-one with Alfonso, but his left-footed strike was denied by the former Real Oviedo keeper. Málaga also went close, with Aarón pulling off a spectacular save to deny Dioni's curled effort from range and preserve the clean sheet.

Just as it seemed that the encounter would end all-square, Málaga appealed for a penalty from the final passage of play of the match. Following a VAR check, the referee decided to give Luengo a red card and give a penalty to the hosts. With all eyes on Escandell, the keeper guessed right and made a fantastic save, prompting joy amongst the travelling Oviedistas.

The match ended in a 0-0 draw, but Real Oviedo had deserved more and had had the better of the chances.