BARCELONA: Espanyol continued their rampant run of form by beating basement club Huesca 2-0 on Sunday, recording a third win in four games to climb up to second in the La Liga standings behind city rivals Barcelona.

Borja Iglesias tapped in the first of his two goals shortly before halftime thanks to a perfectly placed diagonal pass from Didac Vila. The striker sealed the win with a dink in the 64th minute.

Before then, midfielder Victor Sanchez had a goal ruled out for offside following a consultation with the video assistant referee (VAR), which had also been used to award Iglesias’ opening goal after appeals from the home side.

Espanyol, coached by Rubi who led Huesca to promotion to the top flight for the first time last season, are the only team in La Liga to have won every home game this season but had not tasted victory away this campaign until visiting Huesca.

If Espanyol win at Real Valladolid on Friday, they will provisionally go top of the standings.

“There is no euphoria ... there is hard work and we are not going to let up,” Rubi said. “I am sure my players have their feet on the ground because they have seen that it takes five matches for us to win on the road. We are going to defend second place and attack those in front.”

Rubi’s side are second in the standings on 17 points, one behind Barca, while stuttering European champions Real Madrid slipped down to seventh place after Real Valladolid sprang a surprise 1-0 win at Real Betis and climbed into sixth.

Alaves, also on 17 points, are third, with Sevilla in fourth and Atletico Madrid in fifth.

Espanyol’s win also means two teams from Barcelona occupy the top two places in La Liga for the first time since December 2004.

Second-bottom Rayo Vallecano were beaten 2-1 at home by Getafe, while Eibar and Athletic Bilbao drew 1-1 in a Basque derby.

Published in Dawn, October 23rd, 2018

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