“Since I was young I always wanted to score for the first
team. To score my second goal is a feeling of pure happiness.” 19 year old Nico
Melamed left the Estadio Cartogonova pitch in buoyant mood last night, after a
pulsating performance from the substitutes’ bench which swung the match in
Espanyol’s favour.
A cagey encounter sparked into life when Cartagena took
an unexpected and fortunate lead, two minutes into the second half. The goal
from Elady Zorrilla, profiting from a Diego Lopez error, forced Espanyol’s hand
and the attacking traffic became one-way thereafter.
Lluis Lopez and Adri Embarba stuck the crossbar but
Espanyol still trailed when manager Vicente Moreno made an influential double
change on 67 minutes. Two home-grown youngsters: Melamed and 22 year old Javi
Puado, came on to make memorable contributions.
Eight minutes after his introduction Melamed’s diagonal run
unsettled the Cartagena defence. Embarba’s vision and weight of pass was
perfect, and Melamed took just one touch to rifle home a clinical equaliser.
Melamed is from Castelldefels, a coastal town close to
Barcelona where Leo Messi lives and where Ronaldinho previously resided. His
mother is Argentine and her father was Felipe Ribauldo, an Argentine striker who
forms an important part of South American football history.
In the 1968 Copa Libertadores he scored six goals, including
the opener in the final against Palmeiras at the Estadio Centenario in
Montevideo, to help Estudiantes de la Plata win their first crown. Later that
year Ribauldo started both legs of the Intercontinental Cup triumph against
Matt Busby’s Manchester United.
At the Estadio Cartogonova, his grandson wasn’t yet finished.
Having already added to the winning goal he scored at Sabadell earlier this
season, he continued to probe a receding Cartagena defence. Three minutes after
his equaliser he danced in from the left before outfoxing Jose Angel with his
quick feet: penalty. Raul de Tomas stepped up to convert his ninth goal of the
campaign, with ten minutes remaining Espanyol led for the first time.
It was now Puado’s moment to shine, first dribbling from
the half way line to nonchalantly dink home a third goal. Then crashing a volley
against the crossbar in added time.
Whilst Cartagena suffered a fifth defeat from six
matches, Espanyol had come from behind to register their tenth win of the
season which lifted them to the top of the table.
“The reaction of the team was fantastic, and the players
who came on offered so much” said Moreno afterwards.
Melamed has now made 14 appearances for the Espanyol
first team, but only two as a starter. After his influential minutes in Murcia on
Wednesday night, we may now start to see more of this highly talented youngster who has
football in his blood.
Images from La Vanguardia and El Mundo Deportivo
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