Espanyol-Real Madrid It is no longer an accident

First it seemed like a break (the draw against Villarreal), then an accident (the loss to the Sheriff emptying several clips in the air) and We are already in a proto-crisis in Madrid, a disaster in Cornellà from Ancelotti to Vinicius without going through Benzema, a genius against the world. Madrid lost several games in one. The tactician, with a lineup bordering on bizarre. The one of intensity, collective sin. And the soul, that Espanyol caught the first time. Vicente Moreno's team only suffered in the last quarter of an hour, in which he conceded a goal and was able to receive two more, annulled for offside. Before, he more than deserved the jackpot of the win.

It was announced temporary and it was agreed to bundle up. As Madrid came from defending just as badly as in the beginning and attacking visibly worse (31 shots before the Sheriff to end up shooting himself in the foot), Ancelotti emphasized in the 4-4-2 under which he will take refuge many times on the road this season. The trouble came when he gave the drawing names. And since Espanyol had only scored four goals, his history forces him not to look in the mirror as a recently promoted person and was visited by a persistent allergen (a victory over Madrid in the last 27 appointments), Vicente Moreno also revised down his offensive plan.

Camavinga, lost

Thus, Madrid dropped a tip, also because only Benzema and Vinicius seem reliable to him to Ancelotti for all the games and all the fields, and Casemiro, whose physical depression is cured with rest. In return, Alaba returned to the left side with no apparent improvement, with Camavinga on his horizon. The Frenchman is already on the border between the first substitute for anything and the first holder for the same. But versatility limits common sense. Hitting him to the left seemed like an extravagance.

Meanwhile, Espanyol put a double lock, Óscar Gil plus Aleix Vidal, to stop the alleged Madrid assault force on the left (Alaba-Camavinga-Vinicius), even at the cost of taking De Tomás company away.

The scissor in the line-ups did not seem to sadden the game. Madrid, with players with better physique and wingers with more substance (Lucas Vázquez and Alaba himself), came out with a dominant air. At four minutes Benzema had already tested Diego López. But at nine, Embarba had given Madrid something to worry about, with a distant shot, very much his hallmark, rejected by Courtois.

Tomás does not forgive

Madrid, which lost its two reference centers this summer, already knows that decisions like this are extremely risky. More if the starting left-back is also missing for five months. All this emerged in the 1-0. Alaba lost the trail to Benzema on the right and no one knew how to intercept his center at the near post before De Tomás finished it off, a nine out of the box. It is amphibian, it moves just as well inside as it is outside the area, but its presence is highly dosed. It only appears when it senses that it will be decisive and in that set it was. That coldness, more gestural than sporty, was the one that did not fill the eye of Madrid (nor from Luis Enrique). And what came after him (in Madrid and the National Team) has ended up enlarging his figure even more.

The goal brought to light all the leaks of Madrid. If Casemiro does not play it is necessary to put something there that resembles it. If Kroos was never reliable as a plug, it is less so if it comes from a pubalgia. Valverde and Camavinga were not born to stick to the bands. And Alaba has not just caught on in the center or in the band. There were more than enough reasons to explain why Espanyol sent more than enough until the break, with the limitation that up there is just enough ammunition, but Melendo, Darder and Embarba showed a capacity to elaborate much higher than that of the creators of Madrid before the intermission.

A French against the world

Neither did the passage through the dressing room clarify Madrid. Ancelotti withdrew Camavinga and put Rodrygo in, which was to put a plaster on a cannon wound. Espanyol, who had already seen themselves in these against Atlético, where they collapsed in the second half after a superb first, remained in the same register and continued to punish a lost Madrid, out of place and without nerve. In that climate it was 2-0. Aleix Vidal started 45 meters from the white goal and a pipe was enough for Nacho to stand before Courtois and overcome him. Neither before nor after did an obstacle appear.

Ancelotti's response was the same as before the Sheriff, a 4-2-4 of suicidal intentions that Espanyol did not know how to take advantage of. In a hand-to-hand wasted by Darder was the closing of the game. A fainted Madrid was put into the fight by Benzema with no help other than his talent. He skirted the area with a dance of breaks until he found the gap that Diego López did not cover. A super goal from a player who was once a cult and today is suitable for all audiences.

There, Espanyol did fall apart against a huge Benzema. The Frenchman had a goal disallowed for offside and he gave another to Hazard, invalidated by the same. However, not even he was worth the same as Espanyol's huge heart.