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Match details

Sevilla FC-RCDE Espanyol 
Matchday 21 LALIGA EA Sports
Ramón Sánchez-Pizjuán
18:30 CET 

History 
Reial Club Deportiu Espanyol de Barcelona (RCD Espanyol) were founded in 1900 in the Catalan capital. They are one of a number of teams in Spanish football entitled to use Real in their name and the royal crown on their badge after being granted the right by King Alfonso XIII in 1912. Copa del Rey winners on four occasions and one of the founding members of LaLiga in 1929 they currently ranked seventh all the all-time Primera División table, once play behind us. They have reached the final of the UEFA Cup on two occasions, losing in 1988 against Bayer Leverkusen and in 2007 against us.  

Standings  
After being promoted in 2024 in their first season back in the top-flight they have struggled and sit in 18th place currently inside the final relegation place. Having gone six games without a win in all competitions across December and January they picked up a vital 2-1 win last time out against fellow strugglers Real Valladolid. 

Last five meetings 
25/10/24 Espanyol 0-2 Sevilla
4/5/23 Sevilla 3-2 Espanyol 
10/9/23 Espanyol 2-3 Sevilla
20/2/22 Espanyol 1-1 
25/9/22 Sevilla 2-0 Espanyol

Squad lowdown 
Goals have been hard to come by for Espanyol this season with joint top scorers Leandro Cebrera and Jofre Carreras having scored just twice each in the league. Overall, they have scored just 19 goals in 20 games. At the other end they have conceded 32 goals to give them a goal difference of -13, the second worst in the league after Real Valladolid. 

Coach 
After being forced to stop playing at age of 16, José Manuel "Manolo" González Álvarez made the move into coaching. After stints with various lower-league teams, he took over as Espanyol B coach in 2023. In 2024 he was appointed as Espanyol first team coach and helped guide the team back to LaLiga in his first season with victory in the play-off final against Real Oviedo. 

Player links 
Of the current squads four players have played for both teams. Adria Pedrosa and Alvaro Fernandez played for Espanyol and Alejo Veliz and Sergi Gomez both featured for Sevilla. 
Going back further some of the players to have played for both teams include José Antonio Reyes, Diego López, Joan Jordán, Nicolás Pareja and Aleix Vidal. 

Classic meeting 
UEFA Cup final
16 May 2007 
Hampden Park 

In an all-Spanish final, we captured our second UEFA Cup on penalties. Adriano opened the scoring before Albert Riera equalised. In extra time Frédéric Kanouté made it 2-1 before Espanyol equalise once again with a goal from Jônatas to take the game to penalties, but we hold our nerve to win with Andrés Palop penalty save clinching victory in the shootout. 

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