Espanyol midfielder David Lopez has vowed the team will keep fighting despite the increasing likelihood the club will be relegated this season.
The Catalan club are at the foot of La Liga with just seven matches remaining and Thursday’s results mean they are now a whopping eight points off safety.
Aberlardo Fernandez’s side went down to a 1-0 loss at Real Betis while an equally damaging result for Espanyol had occurred earlier in the evening, with 17th-placed Eibar downing Valencia 1-0.
Espanyol have been in the top-flight of Spanish football for a run of 26 years but now find themselves a point off Leganes and two from Real Mallorca.
“We are now in a very difficult situation and we have to be realistic,” Lopez admitted to Gol TV after the game, as cited by Marca.
“But we will not allow our heads to drop and we will continue to fight until it is mathematically impossible.”
Thursday night was another frustrating game for Espanyol, with the only goal of the game seeing Marc Bartra head home from a Sergio Canales corner.
The visitors had a fantastic chance to rescue a point late on, but striker Wu Lei was denied by a point-blank save from Betis goalkeeper Joel Robles.
“It was a tough game for us,” added Lopez.
“The match was defined in the penalty areas – we were not able to take our opportunities and they punished us from their corner – but we feel a draw would have been a fair result.
“The truth is that it is difficult for me to speak at the moment as there are a lot of things running through my head at the moment from the heat of the game.
“We are frustrated because we felt we had the game under our control but we did not have enough going forwards – as has been the case for most of the season.”
