Granada relegated in Spain after missed penalty

Jorge Molina, of Granada CF misses a penalty during the La Liga match between Granada CF and RCD Espanyol at Nuevo Los Carmenes Stadium on May 22, 2022 in Granada, Spain.

Granada have been relegated from LaLiga after veteran Jorge
Molina failed to convert a penalty in their goalless draw at home to Espanyol.

That meant they dropped below Cadiz
and Mallorca, who both won their respective games, into the relegation zone.

Granada started the day 16th, one
point ahead of their rivals, as the three clubs battled to avoid joining
Levante and Alaves in dropping out of LaLiga.

Granada’s chance came when they
were awarded a penalty for a handball inside the box by Leandro Cabrera in the
70th minute. But 40-year-old Molina sent the spot kick just wide of Diego
Lopez’s right post.

Cadiz were still struggling to open
the scoring at Alaves, but their wait ended six minutes later when Choco Lozano
scored from close range to seal a 1-0 win and leave his side one point ahead of
Granada.

Mallorca, who lost seven
consecutive games between late February and early April, completed their
impressive comeback since the arrival of Mexican manager Javier Aguirre with a
2-0 win at Osasuna. They joined Cadiz on 39 points.

Angel Rodriguez opened the scoring
right after the break following a brilliant combination with Vedat Muriqi and
Pablo Maffeo. Clement Grenier struck from a rebound seven minutes from time to
confirm their salvation.

“I couldn’t sleep for several
weeks, tormented with this anguish and agony and now this is just incredible
what we managed to achieve,” an emotional Rodriguez said.

“It was a difficult season,
some really difficult days for us, our families and the fans, but we fought until
the end and it was worth it. I can’t believe we did it.”