Espanyol 1-0 Real Madrid: 5 Talking Points
It was another sombre night for the travelling Real Madrid fans whose side were beaten by Espanyol at the RCDE Stadium. Zinedine Zidane’s side had decent chances and more of the ball, but they just couldn’t find their way past a former player of theirs, Diego Lopez.
Just when it seemed the game was going to end in a goalless draw, a counter-attacking Espanyol move saw Sergio Garcia picking out Gerard Moreno with a good cross from the right and the latter buried the ball past a helpless Keylor Navas in the 93rd minute.
The winner was the last kick of the game and the defeat was Real Madrid’s fifth of the league campaign. Here are the talking points from the game…
#5 A game of two halves for Real Madrid
After more or less controlling the first half, Real Madrid allowed Espanyol into the game in the second half. The away side created a few chances in the first half, most of them were headed opportunities. Gareth Bale had a headed attempt saved in the opening 10 minutes while Raphael Varane couldn’t direct his header from a corner goalwards.
Espanyol’s best chance fell to Gerard Moreno who’s shot was saved brilliantly by Keylor Navas. But even that came from a Real Madrid mistake as Varane’s attempted pass to Kovacic was poor and the hosts intercepted it.
Madrid also had a penalty shout in the first half when Bale’s shot was inadvertently handled by skipper Victor Sanchez, but referee Jose Martinez thought otherwise.
The second half saw the hosts become a little more aggressive and from the word go, they pushed Real Madrid. They created a majority of the chances as Madrid just couldn’t stem the flow of chances.