Real Madrid beat Espanyol and is already the solo leader of the championship, two points above Barcelona. A victory that boosts the white team to the top and sinks a little more to Espanyol that right now is 10 points from permanence and that sounds like there are too many points to overcome. The Catalan team wants but cannot, does not hit the target path and that ended up condemning him against Real Madrid, not that he played the best game of the season. In fact, it was one of the worst in this return of the championship.
He won for the quality of his players and not for his football, but as it is the championship in which each game is a final, right now that is what is worth.
(+) See the summary of the match
Real Madrid put a recognizable eleven away from the experiments he did against Mallorca with four points. He populated the midfield with the return of Casemiro and the entry of Kroos and Isco. Above, Hazard and Benzema. An ‘eleven’ with a lot of name that was surprised by Espanyol de Rufete in the first minutes. The new coach of the Catalan team, the fourth of the season, came out with everything, with Wu Lei stuck to the right and De Tomás and Embarba leading the operations in attack.
Espanyol came out on top, looking for an indispensable victory to think about the comeback. Darde was able to score in a match start that he was local. Madrid, with a very slow game, had many problems to overcome the pressure of an Espanyol that with Wu Lei always created danger to the sword of Marcelo. The scene changed in the 8th minute when Casemiro was about to surprise Diego López with a shot from his own field. That action changed the game. Espanyol's fear entered his body and he stepped back. Madrid realized and went for the goal, although without going crazy. Espanyol held and reappeared at the Courtois goal, which saved a clear local opportunity.
Casemiro's goal
The meeting was slow, boring, with a lot of play in the midfield and with the two teams playing hard. And in one of them Madrid scored. It was Casemiro who made it 0-1 in the 45th minute after a great heel pass from Benzema after a pass from Ramos. A bit that went up to the scoreboard after reviewing the VAR for the position of the Madrid captain at the beginning of the play. It seemed that he was offside, but the video arbitration said no and the goal was legal.
So, with that much, we came to rest. Espanyol tightened again in the restart and Wu Lei had the tie, but his shot was bad and Courtois stopped him. Real Madrid, with the score in favor, dedicated themselves to slowing down the game even more, trying to have the ball as long as possible. Espanyol kept looking for the goal but with more desire than football. The truth is that he haunted it on several occasions, but he did not succeed in beating Courtois. The marker did not move anymore and Madrid left Barcelona with the lead alone under his arm and leaving Espanyol closer to the abyss. They are the face and the cross of LaLiga.
RCD Espanyol, 0
Diego López (3); Víctor Gómez (1), Bernardo (1), Cabrera (1), Dídac (1) (Pedrosa (1), m.46), Embarba (1) (Calleri (1), m. 69), David López (1 ) (Pol Lozano (sc), m. 84), Marc Roca (1), Darder (1) (Nico (1), m.70), Wu Lei (1) (Melendo (1), m.58) and Raúl de Tomás (2).
Real Madrid, 1
Courtois (3), Carvajal (2), Varane (3), Sergio Ramos (3), Marcelo (2), Valverde (2), Casemiro (3), Kroos (2), Isco (3) (Rodrygo (2) , m. 63), Hazard (1) (Vinicius (2), m.63), Benzema (3)
Goal: 0-1, Casemiro (m.45)
Referee: Mateu Lahoz (C. Valenciano). Yellow to Pedrosa (m. 68), Vincius (m. 87)
Stadium: RCDE Stadium