Lucas Perez equaled a club record for RC Deportivo de La Coruna by scoring for a seventh straight La Liga game to help earn a 2-0 win over Sociedad Deportiva Eibar on Saturday.
The striker earned a penalty when fouled by Asier Riesgo and he fired the spot-kick into the corner of the net, sending the goalkeeper the wrong way four minutes before halftime at the Riazor.
Perez matched the milestone of scoring in seven consecutive rounds held by Bebeto since the 1992-1993 season.
Photo: EPA
It was his 12th goal this season, pulling him level with Real Sociedad’s Imanol Agirretxe as the competition’s third leading scorers behind Barcelona pair Neymar (14) and Luis Suarez (13).
Perez’s scoring run has kept Deportivo unbeaten in seven matches, including a comeback 2-2 draw at leaders Barcelona. Perennial strugglers in recent years, the northwestern side consolidated their hold on sixth place and a UEFA Europa League spot.
Deportivo played the final 20 minutes with 10 men after Luis “Luisinho” Correia was sent off after receiving his second yellow card for diving, but Alejandro Arribas sealed the result with a header four minutes later.
Elsewhere, Valencia coach Gary Neville remained winless in his second league match after a 2-2 draw at home against Getafe; RCD Espanyol won in the league debut of coach Constantin Galca; while Sevilla drew 0-0 at Real Betis Balompie in an ill-tempered derby.
Neville got a strong performance from striker Paco Alacer, who canceled out Pablo Sarabia’s free-kick for Getafe, before he also set up Santi Mina to level again after Angel Lafita restored the visitors’ lead.
However, Valencia were fortunate not to concede a late goal to Lafita, who missed a point-blank opportunity moments before hitting the crossbar in stoppage-time.
“In the first half of the game we made some mistakes. It is a pity, because the effort has been enormous,” Neville said. “I know that the results will follow.”
Neville started as coach with a 2-0 home loss to Olympique Lyonnais in the UEFA Champions League, followed by a 1-1 draw at Eibar in the league. The former Manchester United defender got his first win, 2-0 over Barakaldo, in the Copa del Rey on Wednesday last week.
Espanyol striker Felipe Caicedo scored in the second half for a 1-0 win over visitors UD Las Palmas.
Rightback Javi Lopez recovered the ball to start a counterattack that he finished off by crossing for Caicedo to score.
Galca, a former Espanyol player, won his first match in charge when Espanyol eliminated Levante UD from the Copa del Rey on Tuesday last week.
The Seville derby featured 12 yellow cards — seven for Betis — to just two scoring opportunities, both by Sevilla’s Kevin Gameiro that were saved by goalkeeper Antonio Adan.
“It was a nasty match,” Sevilla’s Victor “Vitolo” Machin said. “There was more tension than anything else.”
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