In the early morning of January 11, Beijing time, the 20th round of La Liga ushered in the last match, espanyol home against Elche. In the end, espanyol broke out of the cold, lost the game 1-2, and was ended in 7 consecutive home unbeaten games, Wu Lei continued to play in this game, and sat on the bench in 5 consecutive rounds of La Liga.
In the last La Liga game, Espanyol defeated Valencia 2-1 away from home to win the first away victory in La Liga of the season, and currently has 26 points in 19 rounds, ranking 11th in the first round of the next round, only 5 points away from the European zone. Espanyol scored 26 points in the halfway, more than the total points from the final relegation season of the 2019-2020 season.
The home game against Elche is the spaniard's return to home after a month and the last seven home games have won 6 wins and 1 draw to remain unbeaten.
In terms of starting, espanyol continued the forward trident combination of De Thomas, Morón and Puado, with Wu Lei and Di Mata coming off the bench, while Embarba replaced Dadel with Cady Barré and Moranes.
In the opening 6th minute, Pedrosa made a mistake and the header was released directly to Moriente, who crossed the goal with one foot, Mira wrapped it around and pushed it into the net, and Elche took a 1-0 lead.
In the 14th minute, Mascarel's cross from the left was headed in the header by Mira inside the penalty area to help Elche extend the score 2-0. This is the first time that espanyol has conceded two goals in less than 15 minutes at home, and the defender's eye defense is the main reason for consecutive goals conceded.
In the 25th minute, De Thomas crossed from the right, Moron swept the ball into the net, and the referee signaled that Moron was offside, and the penalty was invalid.
In first-half stoppage time, Cady Barre was fouled in the penalty area and the referee awarded a penalty, and then De Thomas took the lead to help espanyol pull a goal back 1-2.
In the second half, espanyol besieged the Elche backline, and Melamed, George Hill and Di Mata came off the bench to strengthen the attack. In the 72nd minute, the Spaniard made a long pass at the back, de Thomas took the ball into the box and hesitated, and finally the shot was blocked, missing a good opportunity.
The Spaniard could not attack for a long time, so that the coach on the sidelines Moreno was very anxious, seeing that the players did not play well on the field, Moreno directly jumped like thunder, very angry sitting on the bench. In the end, the Spaniard lost 1-2 and broke out.
The loss left Espanyol losing at home to Elche for the first time in 56 years, the last time in 1966, when the home defeat was 3-0, in addition, espanyol's seven consecutive home unbeaten games were ended, and it was also the first time in la Liga this season that four consecutive wins were missed.