Espanyol Stuns Real Madrid In Thrilling Encounter
Real Madrid lost its second game in a week after a 2-1 defeat by Espanyol in match day 8 of the Spanish La Liga at the RCDE Stadium.
Madrid started with Karim Benzema and Vinicius Jr. up front and were hoping to bounce back from their UEFA Champions League defeat to Sheriff. The visitors started well and on three minutes a back-heel from Vinicius released Benzema, whose shot was saved.
Espanyol had a chance through Adrian Embarba, but Madrid goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois did well to save his shot. Espanyol took the lead when Embarba’s cross found Raul de Tomas, who sprinted ahead of Eder Militao and Lucas Vazquez to turn the ball first time past Courtois.
De Tomas then shot wide with Espanyol’s next chance as the home side dominated the game. Militao headed Alaba’s free-kick wide after Vinicius had been brought down but the home side were comfortable as the referee blew for the whistle for halftime.
In the second half, Madrid defender Militao almost equalised but his header from Toni Kroos’ corner flashed wide. In the 60th minute, Madrid were 2-0 down as Aleix Vidal scored the goal sprinted clear of Luka Modric, nutmegged Nacho and beat Courtois at his near post.
Benzema thought he’d pulled one back but his brilliant effort was ruled out because he had played the ball off Luka Jovic, who was offside, just before dribbling through the Espanyol defence to score.
The Frenchman would not be denied and in the 70th minute, he got another pass from substitute Jovic and carried it along the edge of the area until he found the space to curl a shot past Diego Lopez to make it 2-1.
Espanyol had looked more like scoring the third goal of the game because Madrid were left exposed as they searched for the equaliser. Sergi Darder got clear on his own but couldn’t finish and substitute Nicolas Melamed also went close to extending Espanyol’s lead.
Poor defending from Carlo Ancelotti’s team meant it was not enough as Espanyol claimed 3 valuable points against Real Madrid. It was only the second time since 2007 that Espanyol had beaten the leaders in their own stadium.
La Liga Results
Elche 1-0 Celta Vigo
Espanyol 2-1 Real Madrid
Getafe 1-1 Real Sociedad
Villarreal 2-0 Real Betis
Granada 1-0 Sevilla
Chidi Nwoke/La Liga.
