Stoppage-time goal hands Granada 1-0 win at Zaragoza
- Granada CF beat Real Zaragoza 1-0 on May 1 at Ibercaja Estadio, with Álex Sola scoring in the 98th minute to decide a grim, tense game. - The winner came at 90+8 from Pablo Sáenz’s assist, capping a match with little flow and leaving Zaragoza stuck on 35 points. - Granada moved to 48 points after 38 matches, still outside the playoff places but with a late push suddenly alive.
Granada grabbed the kind of win that changes the mood of a season. Not because it was beautiful — it really wasn’t — but because it arrived at the very last moment and kept a fading promotion chase breathing. Real Zaragoza and Granada spent most of Friday night locked in a scrappy, low-rhythm game at Ibercaja Estadio. Then Álex Sola scored in the 98th minute, and suddenly the whole thing looked different. Granada left with a 1-0 win. Zaragoza left with another brutal ending. (espn.co.uk) ### What actually decided it? One transition. That was basically it. Deep into stoppage time, Pablo Sáenz set up Álex Sola for the only goal of the match, officially logged at 90+8. In a game that had been clogged with fouls, broken possession, and very few clean attacking sequences, that late move was enough. Granada didn’t nee(espn.co.uk)globalsportsarchive.com) ### Why did the match feel so flat? Because neither side gave the other much space, and neither side did much with the ball when space appeared. The timeline tells the story pretty well — a string of cautions, a lot of substitutions, and almost no scoring action unti(globalsportsarchive.com)s the longer it stayed 0-0. (globalsportsarchive.com) ### Who was Álex Sola in this one? He was the late spark. Sola came on in the 77th minute for José Arnáiz, so he wasn’t even part of Granada’s starting setup. But he ended up deciding the match anyway. That matters because late games like this often turn on bench players — fresher legs, one direct run, one better decision. Granada got exactly that. (globalsportsarchive.com) ### What does this do for Granada? It gives Granada three points they badly needed. After 38 matches, the win moved them to 48 points from a record of 12 wins, 12 draws, and 14 losses. That still leaves them outside the serious promotion places, so this was not some (globalsportsarchive.com)ng. (globalsportsarchive.com) ### And what about Zaragoza? This is where the result really stings. Zaragoza stayed on 35 points after 38 matches, down in 21st place in the table shown with the match data. So the loss was not just frustrating — it was damaging. Conceding that late is rough in any season, but it feels worse when the team is already fighting near the bottom and running out of matches. (globalsportsarchive.com) ### Was this a surprise result? Not completely, but the timing made it feel cruel. Granada came in above Zaragoza in the standings, yet away matches like this can get weird fast — especially in Segunda, where games often tighten into coin flips. For 97 minutes, this looked like one of those nights where both teams would take a point and move on. Then Granada stole the whole thing. (globalsportsarchive.com) ### Why does stoppage-time matter so much here? Because late winners don’t just change the table — they rewrite the story people tell about the same 90 minutes. A drab draw becomes a heroic smash-and-grab for Granada and another collapse for Zaragoza. Same match, sam(globalsportsarchive.com)de and into regret for the other. (globalsportsarchive.com) ### So what’s the bottom line? Granada did not play a classic. They played a survival game, stayed alive in it, and found one decisive break at the death. Zaragoza, meanwhile, absorbed another late punch in a season that already looks dangerously close to slipping away. In a 42-game league, one goal in the 98th minute can still feel enormous. (espn.co.uk)
