A brace from Pablo Osvaldo was enough to earn a 2-2 draw for Espanol against Atletico Madrid after two horrendous mistakes forced the Catalan outfit to chase the game after going behind on both occasions.

It was a nightmare start to the match for Espanyol as it found itself one-nil down inside the opening ninety seconds. Bad defending from the home side led to Galan scuffing his attempted clearance into the path of Koke who duly slotted the ball home from a central position, twelve yards out.

It almost got worse for El Periquitos in only the fifth minute as the visitors had a solid shout for a penalty when Sergio Aguero was brought down from behind by Luis Garcia. The referee decided to wave play on – much to the bemusement of Atletico’s number 10.

Shortly after, El Blanquiblaus managed to compose themselves and gain a foothold in the game. Both teams were showcasing a great appetite for the three points on offer with free-flowing football on display resulting in an entertaining game of football.

Atletico probably should have doubled its advantage in the 30^th minute after Aguero managed to beat the offside trap only to hesitate a split second too long which allowed Galan to nip in and make a vital block. 

El Atleti was made to pay for not increasing its advantage as Pablo Osvaldo hunted down a terrific ball from Verdu, and after shrugging off the challenge of Luis Perea, the Buenos Aires-born forward saw his strike deflected in off the Colombian defender. David De Gea was left stranded as he could only watch the ball ricochet into the roof of the net.

The two teams went in level at 1-1 at half time knowing that they had both missed countless opportunities to add to the score line.

Los Colchoneros came out firing in the second half and managed to take the lead in the 50^th minute through their talismanic Argentine forward, Kun Aguero. The striker latched onto a horrific back-pass from Jose Maria Callejon who played a suicidal ball on the halfway line towards his own goal. The Argentinian marksman then nipped in front of his defender and sent a delightfully chipped finish over the despairing Carlos Kameni. It was a truly wonderful finish from a world class player, but yet again, a terrible mistake from Espanyol that led to the goal.

The home side didn’t take long to draw level again as Pablo Osvaldo got his second goal of the game in the 58^th minute. It was Verdu again with the assist which led to a delightfully guided header from Osvaldo at the back post back across the diving De Gea.

Both teams chased for a winner, but were unable to break each other down and the ninety minutes came to a close with the draw being the fair outcome.

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