Espanyol fires coach Bartolome Marquez

BARCELONA, Spain (AP) -Espanyol fired coach Bartolome Marquez on Sunday after the Spanish league club lost its fourth straight match.

Espanyol is in 17th place with 12 points from 13 games, trailing leader Barcelona by 20, after the 1-0 home loss to Sporting Gijon. Since opening the season with two straight victories, the Barcelona club has won only one more game.

"He's someone who understood right away about the situation that was created,'' Espanyol sporting director Francisco Herrera said in a statement.

The club setting a 48-hour deadline to bring in somebody new. In the meantime, assistant coach Oscar Perarnau will lead Monday's practice.

"It's a reasonable amount of time to Wednesday to have somebody leading the first team,'' Herrera said.

Marquez, who replaced Olympiakos-bound Ernesto Valverde after coming up the Espanyol ranks, was under contract for the duration of the season.