Espanyol were reduced to 10 men in a goalless first half against Granada at the Estadi Cornella-El Prat tonight.
Victor Alvarez was dismissed on 30 minutes for a heavy tackle on Youssef El-Arabi to leave Espanyol with an uphill battle if they are to secure a victory that would take them to eighth in the La Liga table.
The hosts were just beginning to take control of a tie which started slowly, as Jhon Cordoba tested Granada keeper Roberto following a smart through-ball from Sergio Garcia, before Alvarez was sent off.
El-Arabi picked himself up from the challenge that saw Alvarez red-carded to come close to scoring the opening goal, as Francisco Casilla kept out his powerful drive after Espanyol had afforded the Egyptian striker - who has eight goals to his name already this campaign - too much room on the edge of the box.
It was Javier Aguirre's 10 men who had the best chance of the half, though, as another fine Garcia pass opened up the Granada defence, only for Roberto to deny Christian Stuani on 37 minutes.
Joe Fish
