The Real Madrid finished the first round with a single defeat. The Spanish, intractable at the RCDE Stadium (fourth best local), was the team capable of bend those of Carlo Ancelotti. It happened at the beginning of October, when the whites lived their little crisis that questioned the methods of the Italian coach, a unimportant slip later, when an immaculate streak arrived that has placed them as winter champions and in the next phase of the Champions League.
After draw against Villarreal (0-0) and lose to him Sheriff for 1-2 in Europe, Real Madrid arrived at RCDE Stadium against Espanyol that was having a hard time starting. But the blue and white went ahead with goals from RdT and Aleix Vidal, and just a genius of Karim Benzema shortened distances. Madrid could not with the intensity of a Espanyol that deactivated Vinicius and the midfield. And added a victory of merit That changed the perception of the level of the squad and the season.
La Liga Santander
* Data updated as of December 23, 2021
That Espanyol forged his victory in two clear points, which no other team has managed to repeat. The first of these was the excellence in retraction. The Blue and Whites locked themselves in their own field, but they planted a mine every meter and there was no released Real Madrid players who could create attacking plays. Ancelotti’s men shot four times on goal, the same as Espanyol, who found spaces to take all three points.
Both goals They were manufactured by the left side Real Madrid taking advantage of one side defended by Nacho Fernandez Y David praise during the meeting. First, Raúl de Tomás finished off a cross from Adrián Embarba at the near post. And the second goal came thanks to Aleix Vidal’s fast and precise driving with a Madrid that was too open and was unable to stop it in time.
It was not the only streak that the Blue and White team has cut. The November 28 those of Vicente Moreno they beat Real Sociedad 1-0 with both Yangel Herrera, so the txuri-urdin group also put an end to their 13 games in a row without losing in the competition. Since then it has entered a crisis of results. Not so Madrid, which over time signed that their defeat at the RCDE Stadium was an accident.