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0-2: Insufficient improvement
RCDE Stadium will have to wait a few months to live his first victory against a big team. Espanyol stood up to R. Madrid in a correct match of the espanyolistas that significantly improved their performance over the last precedent. Espanyol tried, but it was not enough to stop the leader.
Quique Sánchez Flores decided to give another chance to Óscar Duarte and David López in the back of the defence. Pape Diop came in the team instead of Javi Fuego, who was sent off against Real Sociedad. Javi López, with muscular problems all the week, finally made it and was in conditions to play against Real Madrid. The team managed by Zinedine Zidane, who couldn’t count with Bale and Cristiano Ronaldo, had three former Espanyol players: Kiko Casilla, Marco Asensio and Lucas Vázquez.
Last two matches against Real Madrid not very good for Espanyol, the team managed by Quique Sánchez Flores was hoping to change the story. Baptistao had a clear chance after a good pass from Hernán Pérez but Kiko Casilla saved his team. Again, the white and blue team suffered a setback when Pablo Piatti had to leave due to a muscular injury. A few minutes after was Casemiro who had to leave the field. It was a very tactical match and Espanyol was able to stop Madrid during grand part. There was also time for two polemical decisions: first he didn’t show Sergio Ramos the second yellow card and after he saw offside of Benzema who had beaten Diego López. Before the half time Baptistao had a great chance to score for Espanyol but he miss by a little. Who didn’t fail to advance his team was James that in the last minute scored the first goal for R. Madrid.
Espanyol came forward after the half time and soon things happened. Carvajal aborted an attack with his hands and then Pepe appeared to hit Baptistao in the area although none of the two actions called the attention of the referee. Meanwhile, Diego Lopez avoided Benzema's second goal with a feline intervention. Caicedo came in the place of Gerard, who didn’t stop running during all the match. Espanyol remained convinced that it was possible to tie the game and reached the decisive stage in a good position. However, a combination between Carvajal and Lucas was ended Benzema finished off the bottom of the goal defended by Diego Lopez.
With such a disadvantage it seemed almost improbable to obtain a positive result. In addition, Kiko Casilla was successful when it was required and able to reject a clear shot of Caicedo that went straight to goal. Despite the improvement the team could not beat an opponent who made good use of their options.