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2-0: Espanyol fall to defeat at the Bernabéu

The “blanquiazules” show fight but come up against a good Madrid side, and bemoan the ‘lack’ of VAR

On the eve of the game at the Bernabéu, Pablo Machín demanded that his Espanyol side be competitive, defend well, and that his players produce a rounded performance in order to take some positives from the match at the “madridista” fortress. For a large part of the game, they did. But the team left empty handed because Madrid barely wasted a chance and benefited from a hesitant referee, who in a couple of instances refrained from making decisions that could well have affected the outcome of the match.

The “blanquiazules” are now without an away win against Real Madrid in a quarter of a century. The last one came in the 95/96 season, with a young Lardín playing a crucial role. Since then, no luck, with the majority of the games being well-fought and the odd draw here and there.

In any case, the “blanquiazules” were clear that today was time for gritted teeth, that everyone had to put in effort – as a team, and as individuals – in bucketloads. That said, the first chances of the match fell inevitably to the home side. Diego López was made to sweat by efforts from Vinicius and Benzema, but Madrid were hardly bulldozing their opponents. Granero had a header which Courtois saved with some difficulty, but quickly turned into a rapid counterattack, culminating in another Vinicius shot which Diego López kept out with his foot.

The last 10 minutes of the first half were decisive. Benzema found Varane with a good assist which he only had to direct into the back of the net. Immediately after, Vinicius mowed down David López in midfield in a clear foul that could have been a straight red card. However, the referee did not produce even a second yellow. He spent a good while waving off Espanyol protests, but insisted that the incident only warranted a free kick. Play on.

Espanyol started to come forward a bit more, and in the last passage of play before half time, Carvajal brought down Calleri inside the penalty area. Another wave of Espanyol protests, but VAR wasn’t used, even to offer the referee the chance to watch a replay of the incident. Again; play on, nothing to see here. Two refereeing errors that left the Espanyol players incredulous and brought a large sigh of relief from the home fans.

Madrid knew that they had to kill the game as soon as possible, or anything could happen. And they weren’t wrong. After Diego López saved from Benzema, Wu Lei struck Sergio Ramos with a shot when up against Thibaut Courtois.

Espanyol were growing into the match and it felt as though they were getting closer to a goal, but each counterattack from the home side caused the “blanquiazul” defence serious problems. Benzema, midway through the second half, fired well over the bar and into the home fans, who were hungry for a second goal. Their hunger was satisfied, however, when in the final part of the game, the Frenchman fired past Diego López to make it 2-0 and kill the game.