UD Las Palmas came into this match with many players sidelined, the latest victims being Srnic and Fede Varela. They ended up on the wrong end of a 0-1 defeat, but didn’t deserve to lose. Youth player Álex Suárez took over on the right side of defence due to the absence of Eric Curbelo through suspension. It was a demanding match against a historic team who came to the Estadio Gran Canaria in a rich vein of form and with three more points on the board than the yellows. Both sides were keen to avoid making mistakes in the first half. There were few goal-scoring chances because both Las Palmas and Zaragoza were solid in defence, so chances were few and far between. Even with long balls neither side were able to create any space in a tight match. Pedri tried pushing between lines for Las Palmas, while striker Luis Suárez mis-hit his shot which was easily dealt with by the home defence. Half time came with a nil-nil draw being a fair reflection of the game. The teams came out all guns firing in the second half. Las Palmas had two shots which didn’t find the net. Then Álvaro Valles pulled off two great saves from Puado and Atienza. Las Palmas’ goalkeeper was nearly caught out as he gave the ball away to Kagawa inside the penalty area, but reacted in time and managed to get his hand on the ball when the visiting striker attempted to dribble past him (min. 55). A header by Kirian (min. 62) from a great cross by Javi Castellano was well saved by Álvarez in what was the home side’s best move of the evening. Mel’s team were enjoying greater possession, Pedri was getting more involved and it showed. Sergio Araujo could have scored on two consecutive occasions (min. 70). Then just a minute later Zaragoza’s goalkeeper kept out an effort by Pedri with another fine save. With ten minutes to go a penalty conceded by Mantovani was netted by Javi Ros to make the score 0-1. Las Palmas laid siege on the away goal in an attempt to get back on level terms, but ended up pointless in a game they deserved to draw at the very least.
