🏏 Sun, 16 Aug 2026 19:00 CEST
Espanyol
vs
Levante UD
4-2-3-1 vs 4-2-3-1
Substitutes
Substitutes
Match Preview
- Opening weekend brings a clash of shapes: Espanyol line up in a 4-4-2 with the 186cm Roberto Fernandez, 24 and on loan from Braga, partnered by academy graduate Javier Hernandez, while Levante set up in a 4-2-3-1 around the 172cm Ivan Romero. With no league meetings between them yet this season and both sides still on zero points, this is a genuinely blank page for both coaching staffs.
- Levante's bench holds a subplot: Kaian Tunde came through Espanyol's youth system before joining the Valencian club. Born in Barcelona to a Nigerian father and a Spanish mother, the left-footed winger passed through CF Damm, Barcelona and Espanyol before breaking into Levante's first team. If he is introduced, his acceleration and directness against the club that helped raise him will be one of the night's talking points.
- The midfield pairing battle should decide who controls tempo. Espanyol's central platform is Urko Gonzalez, a 186cm Real Sociedad product comfortable as either a holding midfielder or a centre-back, alongside 30-year-old Edu Exposito, who sharpened his passing at Eibar and Deportivo. Levante counter with two left-footers in La Masia graduate Oriol Rey and Jon Ander Olasagasti, another Real Sociedad academy man known for his range of passing.
- Carlos Alvarez carries Levante's creativity. The 23-year-old wears number 10, stands just 167cm and is a left-footed Sevilla academy graduate who won both MVP and top-scorer honours at La Liga Promises. Espanyol's answer is a physically imposing centre-back pair: 189cm Athletic Club product Unai Nunez and 23-year-old Carlos Riedel, who earned a Bundesliga promotion with Darmstadt before joining Espanyol in a roughly two-million-euro deal in 2025.
- Roberto Fernandez is Espanyol's focal point, a striker who first made his name at Malaga and spent time with Barcelona B, using his 186cm frame for hold-up play and finishing inside the box. He faces one of the more experienced defensive pairings in the division: 34-year-old Algeria international Aissa Mandi, a veteran of five seasons at Real Betis and a spell at Villarreal, alongside Dela, a Real Madrid Castilla graduate who arrived via Villarreal.
- The flanks promise a contrast in styles. Tyrhys Dolan, the 170cm England-born winger who spent five seasons as a regular at Blackburn Rovers before moving to Espanyol in 2025, is the hosts' most direct dribbler, with homegrown Morocco full-back Omar El Hilali, 22, providing width behind him. Levante's left side belongs to Manu Sanchez, a 171cm Atletico Madrid academy product on loan from Celta whose overlapping runs and crossing are his calling cards.
- Levante's starting eleven mixes teenagers with old heads. Paco Cortes, born in 2007, begins on the left wing, and Nacho Perez, born in 2008 and a first-team debutant at 17 after moving across the city from Valencia's academy, starts at right-back. Behind them, 34-year-old Mandi organises the line. How those two academy kids handle the noise of a season opener will say plenty about Levante's direction.
- In goal, Espanyol trust 34-year-old Serbia international Marko Dmitrovic, a 194cm keeper who won the Europa League during his Sevilla years, contributes to build-up with his left foot and has a reputation as a penalty stopper. Behind him sit two academy keepers, 21-year-old Llorens Cerdo and 24-year-old Angel Fortuno, giving the club an unusual blend of top-level experience and homegrown depth in one matchday squad.
- Both benches carry genuine game-changers. Espanyol can call on Quilindschy Hartman, the Netherlands left-back who won an Eredivisie title with Feyenoord, 20-year-old Brazilian Gabriel Moscardo of PSG and Corinthians fame, and 33-year-old Pere Milla with his left-footed cut-ins. Levante hold back Jeremy Toljan, the 32-year-old German with Borussia Dortmund and Celtic on his CV, plus Cameroon forward Etta Eyong, who once scored 19 goals for Villarreal B.