Spanish club Espanyol announced the dismissal on Friday of coach Vicente Moreno, two rounds before the end of the La Liga season.

"RCD Espanyol has decided not to continue with Vicente Moreno as coach of the first team," the club said in a statement which also announced the sacking of sports director Francisco Joaquín Perez Rufete.

Moreno arrived at Espanyol in August 2020 after the club's relegation to the second division.

He successfully brought them back up to La Liga and achieved this year's objective of keeping the club in the top flight -- Espanyol are currently 13th and safe from relegation.

"The club recognises and appreciates the work of the Valencian coach and his technical staff in these two seasons in which he achieved promotion and consolidation in the top flight," said Espanyol.

Moreno's sacking, however, comes on the back of a poor run of form that has seen them take just one point from the last five matches.

Espanyol have not announced a permanent replacement for Moreno but the newspaper AS says Luis Blanco, the coach of Espanyol B, will take over for the last two games of the season against Valencia on Saturday and Granada on May 22.