Spurs loan watch: Frustrating evening for Tottenham loanee

On Thursday evening, a little before Spurs began their Europa League campaign at home to Qarabag, Alejo Veliz and his RCD Espanyol were in action at home to Villarreal, in the second La Liga midweek fixture of the 24/25 season.

Having been amongst the substitutes for the previous game away to Real Madrid, Veliz was back in the starting XI, making it six out of a possible seven starts during his stint at Espanyol so far.

In truth, he struggled to get into the game, and at half-time had only registered six touches. This is a byproduct of the style of play, with Espanyol playing pretty tough to watch football in the most part.

Spurs loan watch: Frustrating evening for Tottenham loanee

His counterparts thought they had taken the lead, with a goal one minute into first-half stoppage time, but Villarreal managed to sneak in an equaliser six minutes into stoppages and the sides went into the break-all square.

After 72 minutes, Veliz's number was on the fourth official's board, and Walid Cheddira, who had replaced him in the starting XI against Real Madrid, came in his place. In his 72 minutes on the pitch, Veliz alarmingly didn't have a single shot and only had 13 touches of the ball altogether.

A second-half goal from Villarreal was enough to win the game and condemn Espanyol to back-to-back defeats in La Liga. The result leaves Espanyol in 14th place, with seven points from seven games, one point behind Bryan Gil's Girona side. Not too bad for a newly promoted side, in fairness.

Next up for Veliz and Espanyol is a trip to Seville to play Real Betis on Sunday, with kick-off being 17:30 BST. He will face former Spurs man Giovani Lo Celso, who has scored three goals in four games for Betis since rejoining the club on a permanent deal on transfer deadline day. Because of course, he has.