UD Las Palmas found themselves a goal down with a game barely a minute old. David López caught out Raúl Lizoain, who was back as first choice goalkeeper, to make the score 1-0 and immediately make life hard for the away team.
The Gran Canarian team managed to come back from this early setback and began to take control of the game. Prince had a shot that went wide on the quarter hour mark.
In the 25th minute Jonathan Viera tried his luck but was unable to beat Diego López. Soon afterwards Raúl Lizoain saved a certain second goal for the home team, although it was Las Palmas who were dominating proceedings.
Halilović again put the Español keeper to the test, until finally Mauricio Lemos with a powerful shot pulled his side level 1-1.
When it looked like the teams would be going in at half time on level terms, Espanyol went ahead once more thanks to Gerard, in the 45th minute, another setback for the away team, although there was still plenty of time to get back into the game.
The second half started with Uruguayan Mauricio Lemos scoring his second goal of the game, bringing his team level once again at 2-2. Then everything seemed to swing again when a penalty conceded by Raúl Lizoain was converted by Piatti to make it 3-2, meaning Las Palmas were back to square one.
In the 60th minute Raúl Lizoain once again saved well to keep out what would have been the home team’s fourth goal, getting down at the post to keep the ball out.
In an attempt to give his team more bite, Quique Setién introduced Tana. The Cantabrian trainer was counting on the electric pace of the forward from San Cristóbal, and then soon after brought on Mateo. Just before this David Simón nearly scored an equaliser with a cross shot.
This is how they reached the last 15 minutes, when Jurado made the most of a counter attack to virtually make the game safe at 4-2. Nevertheless, Las Palmas kept plugging away and managed to reduce the deficit with a goal by Mateo, bringing the scores to 4-3. A possible shout for a penalty on Helder in the 87th minute was the last real threat for Las Palmas, and the game petered out into another away defeat for the yellows against good opposition tonight, RCD Espanyol.
