Espanyol 1 : 1 Villarreal - Colotto clinches point for Espanyol

Diego Colotto scored a stoppage-time equaliser to salvage a 1-1 draw for Espanyol at home to Villarreal.

The Yellow Submarine had looked set to put successive defeats to Sevilla, Valencia and FC Zurich behind them with a three-point haul at the Power8 Stadium thanks to Mario Gaspar's first-half goal.

However, with the match having already entered additional time at the end of the game, Espanyol stunned their visitors by drawing level through Colotto's close-range finish.

The draw is not what either side would have been hoping for coming into the match, with Espanyol now having gone four games without a win while Villarreal would have been desperate for a victory after their recent poor run.

That looked on the cards after they took a 26th-minute lead with the first decent opening of the match.

Jonathan Dos Santos' cross into the middle picked out Denis Cheryshev, who cushioned a header into the path of Mario and he held off the challenge of Eric Bailly before lifting his shot over keeper Fran Casilla.

That sparked a purple patch for Villarreal which saw Casilla do well to keep out efforts from Mario and Luciano Vietto before Manuel Trigueros fired wide.

Espanyol weathered the storm, though, and were rewarded for battling right to the end by snatching a last-gasp equaliser.

The hosts looked much more threatening after the break and Colotto and Lucas Vazquez tested Sergio Asenjo before the former failed to turn home another opportunity.

Villarreal were not without their chances either, and Ikechukwu Uche and Luciano Vietto both had openings to make it 2-0, the latter of which saw Espanyol defender Juan Fuentes make a crucial intervention.

Had either of those gone in then Villarreal would most probably have been celebrating a victory, but Espanyol made the most of their escapes to grab a point right at the death when Argentinian centre-back Colotto slotted home from six yards out.