A huge victory in Oviedo (0-1)

C.D. Leganés secured a crucial victory at the Carlos Tartiere Stadium against Real Oviedo (0-1) in a match on Matchday 2 of LALIGA HYPERMOTION. A goal by Gharbi gave the victory to the “Pepineros,” who played with ten men starting in the 25th minute after Raúl Fernández was sent off.

Rubén Albés fielded the same starting lineup as in the league debut against Girona, marking the team’s second consecutive match against a recently relegated opponent to start the season. Lega got off to a good start, debuting their third pink away kit, and had their first big chance in the 5th minute through Zico Buurmeester, who collected the ball at the edge of the box and fired a right-footed shot that Aarón deflected for a corner with a great save.

A goal by Gharbi and a red card for Raúl Fernández marked a first half in which Lega went into halftime with the lead

Lega’s strong start paid off in the 19th minute: a great team-wide attacking sequence culminated in Gharbi’s first-time shot that beat Aarón, making it 0-1—the Tunisian international’s first goal in our league. However, the joy was short-lived for the Pepineros: in the 21st minute, after a VAR review, Gorka Etayo sent off Raúl Fernández for a foul on Chris Ramos outside the box. Luca came on for Kechta, and Leganés were down a man with more than an hour of play remaining.

Leganés were down to ten men but didn’t allow Real Oviedo many clear-cut chances for the rest of the first half, except for a couple of shots from the edge of the box that went wide. Leganés held on to their narrow lead heading into halftime.

Luca Zidane came to Leganés’ rescue in the second half to secure a well-deserved victory

With no changes after the break, the pattern remained the same in the opening minutes: Oviedo dominated possession, and Leganés defended without conceding any major scoring chances. Just before the hour mark, Dani Rodríguez and Álex Millán replaced Gharbi and Soko in Rubén Albés’s second set of substitutions to bring fresh legs onto the field.

In the 69th minute, Luca made a great save to prevent the equalizer, spreading himself wide to stop a point-blank shot by Oviedo forward Isfan. In the 83rd minute, the crossbar came to Leganés’ rescue on yet another shot by Isfan, and shortly after, Marvel cleared the ball off the line to prevent the equalizer. In the 85th minute, Rubén Peña came on for Naim to inject fresh energy down the right flank, and in the 88th minute, Luca once again stepped up to thwart the home team’s penultimate chance.

Lega put up a valiant fight to secure a crucial victory despite being a man down, earning their first win of the season following their opening-round draw in Girona. The “Pepineros” now have four points after two away games, and next Saturday they’ll make their home debut (7:00 p.m.) against C.D. Eldense.