Espanyol 0-2 Real Madrid
Real Madrid returned to winning ways on Sunday with a hard-fought victory over struggling Espanyol at the RCDE Stadium.
The first half saw few chances, with the big talking points being another injury to Real Madrid defender Ferland Mendy and an overturned red card for Espanyol’s Omar El Hilali, who was initially shown red for a cynical challenge on Vinicius Junior before it was overturned by referee Jesus Gil Manzano following a VAR check.
Vinicius was at the heart of everything that Real Madrid did, and after having an effort strike the post in the first half, he would break the deadlock 10 minutes into the second period. After collecting the ball from Fede Valverde, he skipped inside one player before exchanging passes with substitute Gonzalo Garcia. After getting the ball back, he sold two defenders with a cut inside before firing past Espanyol goalkeeper Marko Dmitrovic via the inside of the post.
11 minutes later, it was 2-0, with Vinicius again finding himself on the scoresheet. On this occasion, he played a one-two with Jude Bellingham on the edge of the box, and from an angle, he rifled a strike into the top corner, leaving Dmitrovic with no chance of making a save.
From there, Real Madrid were comfortable. They should have added a third late on, but Franco Mastantuono and Bellingham were both denied by Dmitrovic, who was the busier of the two goalkeepers in Catalonia. In the end, it did not matter, as they held on to ensure the three points would be heading back to the Bernabeu.
La Liga title race stays alive until El Clasico
Real Madrid knew that anything other than a win would have handed the La Liga title to Barcelona, but Alvaro Arbeloa’s side are still alive. However, they must claim another victory next Sunday to avoid the ignominy of losing the league in El Clasico.
