3 Reasons Why Real Madrid swept aside Espanyol
Zinedine Zidane's Real Madrid seem to be regaining some sort of consistency, and even though they were always expected to beat Espanyol, the comfort of a 2-0 victory may have been a luxury even a few months ago. They finished the game with 10-men as Ferland Mendy was sent off only minutes after the second goal.
The home side began well, creating chances early on but Espanyol held firm for most of the first half. Vinicius Jr and Benzema would both go close before an unexpected scorer in Raphael Varane opened the scoring in the 37th minute for Los Blancos.
The visitors could muster few chances against their opposition but perhaps their best chance fell to Esteban Granero who couldn't capitalise. At the other end, though, Espanyol were holding firm with former Madridista Diego Lopez making save after save.
Late on, Real Madrid were able to finally break the barrier to notch their second goal and put the tie largely beyond doubt as Karim Benzema's goal arrived a little more than 10 minutes from full time.
Real Madrid's Wings
A massive chunk of Real Madrid's threat came down the wings. The Brazilian Vinicius Jr exposed defenders repeatedly as he created plenty of chances for his team. Although, he did have a few chances to score and if he improves on his finishing, Real Madrid have quite a talent on their hands. While he proved a terror on the left flank, Dani Carvajal was running riot down the other side.
As Rodrygo tucked inside, Carvajal repeatedly made runs down the outside pegging Espanyol back and allowing Real Madrid to repeatedly step up and target Espanyol's backline.
Ferland Mendy provided good support on the left flank as well till he got sent off late on leaving Real Madrid with a problem at left-back for their next game.