The leader of the Spanish championship – Real – in the match with Espanyol could draw a gap of three points from the nearest pursuer – Atletico. To do this, the wards of Carlo Ancelotti needed very little – to win, thus rehabilitating for the infamous home defeat by the Sheriff in the Champions League. Ukrainian goalkeeper Andriy Lunin has traditionally remained in reserve, and the “cream” set to work. The guests struck the first blow on the opponent’s goal in the 4th minute – Benzema from the penalty line punched exactly into the hands of the goalkeeper. Embarba checked Courtois in response – the Belgian in the jump not without difficulty leveled the threat.
In the 14th minute, a good chance wasted Benzema: Vinicius burst into the penalty area of Espanyol, passed to Karim and the Frenchman decided to beat half of the opponent’s defense. The blow did happen, but it was too weak and exactly in the hands of Diego Lopez.
“Parrots” increasingly began to bite and run away in counterattacks. In the 17th minute, one of these sprints was successful. Embarba meteor rushed to the right flank, shot, Militao hesitated, but managed to Raoul De Thomas, who in the fall literally brought the ball into the net.
Madrid continued to have the initiative, but their confusion at the gates of the Catalans could not turn into something really dangerous. Contrary to Real, Espanyol played very competently, did not let the opponent to his goal, and when the “cream” managed to get there – just squeezed them outside the penalty area. At the end of the half, Thomas could have doubled, but hesitated with a blow and fell. The referee ignored the episode and did not award a penalty. In a moment, Embarba once again demonstrated the wonders of dribbling on the left flank and laid out under the blow of Thomas, but the forward scored very poorly – far from the rack. Before the whistle for the break, Militao dangerously punched his head after the canopy from the penalty spot, but did not hit the goal. In the 61st minute, Aleis Vidal gained speed in the center of the field and alternately – beating Modric, waking Nacho between the legs – went to Courtois and doubled the score.
In 2 minutes Serhiy Darder could have put an end to the match, but his exit on his own ended in a small tragedy – the ball after the shot went near the post. Benzema reduced the score a little, but the referee canceled the goal, recording a violation in the attack. In the end, the Frenchman’s efforts were successful – in the middle of the second forty-five minutes, he repeated an identical attempt from the first half: he reached the line of the penalty area, beat several defenders on the line and only then scored. This time – good luck.
Azar, who came on the field after long downtime, scored 5 minutes before the final whistle, but Benzema went offside and the save was canceled a second time. The final assault did not bear fruit and Madrid suffered their first defeat in the Spanish championship this season.
As a result, Real with 17 points in the standings of La Liga remains first, and Espanyol scored 9 points and rose to twelfth
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