Sporting Gijón miss out as Espanyol keep La Liga return hopes alive | OneFootball

Espanyol tonight kept alive the club’s hopes of securing a place back in the top-flight of Spanish football for next season.

As much came by way of a tense goalless stalemate with Sporting Gijón.

After battling their way to a last-gasp victory at El Molinón last weekend, Espanyol, late on Thursday, welcomed Gijón back to Barcelona, for the tie’s return leg.

The Pericos headed into proceedings aware that they required only a draw to be sure of their spot in the promotion playoff finale.

And, when all was said and done, this is precisely what they secured, the visiting Gijón unable to carve out one all-important moment of quality in front of goal.

This, all told, means that the final promotion berth back to La Liga for 2024/25 will now be contested by two teams – Espanyol, and Real Oviedo.

The tie’s first leg is set to play out on Sunday in Oviedo, before they lock horns once more in the very last fixture of the La Liga 2 campaign, at Stage Front Stadium.

Conor Laird | GSFN