Getafe Vs. Espanyol, 2012 La Liga: Periquitos Throw Away Points

Read More: Kalu Uche (F - Nigeria), Espanyol, Getafe

Espanyol were the better side in the first half against Getafe and scored the first goal, but threw away their lead and barely held on for a road point in the end. In La Liga's tight race for European places, they will likely see this as two needed points, needlessly dropped. Getafe put together a much better second half performance than first half, and earned their 1-1 draw in the end.

The visitors missed a number of chances early, while Miguel Moya was forced into a couple of big saves. Espanyol's best spell came around the 29th minute, when Moya made a great save on a chip by Philippe Coutinho. That was followed up by a couple of missed shots that Vladmir Weiss and Romaric should have done better with in the 30th minute.

Alvaro Vazquez, finally back from injury, came on for Kalu Uche at halftime and was the man who gave Espanyol their opening goal. He burned the defense to get to a ball over the top by Héctor Moreno before calmly placing a one-on-one finish into the back of the net in the 66th minute.

Getafe struck back quickly, though their goal was a gift. Striker Thievy Bifouma showed exactly why he is a striker when he brought down Miku in the box in the 69th minute. He stepped up and converted his penalty, leveling the score at 1-1.

Espanyol keeper Fransisco Castilla rescued his team in the 75th minute with an absolutely magnificent double save, denying Getafe their two best open play chances of the match in quick succession. After his save of a low shot by Daniel Güiza, the ball skipped up into the air. Jaime Gavilán appeared to have an easy header into an empty net, but Castilla got across his goal to make a brilliant save, crashing into the post in the process. Incredibly, he wasn't even the slightest bit injured.

In the 81st minute, Ernesto Galán picked up a red card, and Getafe were the better side from then until the end of the match. They couldn't turn their man advantage into a goal, though, and the match finished 1-1.