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Real Madrid Beat Espanyol 1-0 At Santiago Bernabeu

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On a balmy Saturday evening in MadridMarco Asensio‘s goal late in the first half for Real against Espanyol saw the hosts take all three points.

Los Blancos were on the front foot from the first whistle, harrying the visitors at every opportunity.

Alvaro Odriozola was involved at both ends inside the first five minutes, using his energy to get forward, and then his defensive nous to cut out what was almost a defence splitting pass.

A sharp move across the Espanyol area eventually saw the ball land at Isco’s feet centrally, but the chance went begging as the ball hit his shin and bounced wide.

Whilst the visitors weren’t content to sit back and invite Real pressure, nor did they appear to want to play on the counter-attack, preferring to build occasionally when given the opportunity.

Real Madrid‘s passing was slick and crisp, and very much in keeping with the style that Julen Lopetegui wants to see from his players.

Just before the quarter hour, Espanyol had a fantastic chance to open the scoring with Real inexplicably at sixes and sevens at the back.

The ball was worked out to an unmarked Pablo Piatti over on the left side, but his low drive whistled past the post.

Sergio Ramos was next to let fly, but his drive only succeeded it hitting Karim Benzema.

Still Real poured forward with both Marco Asensio and Odriozola heavily involved down the channels, and Luka Modric conducting the orchestra in the centre.

Casemiro‘s free header from a corner that he’d won with a stroke of luck was agonisingly wide of the upright, and as the game edged towards the break, Lopetegui continued to urge his men forward.

As they did so on 35, Hernan Perez hit Los Blancos on the break, but his shot was straight at Thibaut Courtois – who’d barely had anything to do until that point.

With four minutes until the break, a sweeping move from the hosts saw the ball find Asensio, who fired it back across Diego Lopez and into the net – though it would take a VAR delay before Mateu Lahoz could confirm the score.

Two more chances came and went for Real, as they sought to increase their advantage before the whistle was blown.

Just as in the first 45, Real were quickest out of the blocks after the break and Luka Modric was unlucky with a shot that stung Lopez‘s fingers.

The manner in which they’d grabbed the game by the scruff of the neck saw Rubibring on Leo Baptistao and Victor Sanchez for Piatti and Darder within eight minutes of the restart for Espanyol.

Before the hour mark, Mariano Diaz replaced Benzema, as Lopetegui also looked for something fresh.

Pressure on the visitors was incessant at this point but it was Iglesias that was inches away from drawing the visitors level as Sergio Ramos made the mistake of letting his level of concentration drop.

Fortunately for Courtois, the ball bounced back off of the top of the crossbar, but Roca‘s effort shortly afterwards had the locals on tenterhooks again.

With 18 minutes to go, a flying header from Sergio Ramos was saved at full-stretch by Lopez, the captain straying further and further forward in the latter stages.

A poor challenge by Casemiro on the edge of his own box could’ve proved costly, but former Real Madrid man, Esteban Granero‘s freekick deflected off of the wall.

As Espanyol started to get more and more chances, Lopetegui decided to withdraw Isco and put on another defensive midfielder in Marcos Llorente.

It was the youngster who ran the length of the Estadio Santiago Bernabeu pitch to get a shot on goal, after breaking out of his own area from an Espanyol corner.

Inside the final 10 minutes, and play was now genuinely end to end, but netiher side were able to add to the score line.

– Match details

1 – Real Madrid: Courtois; Odriozola, Varane, Sergio Ramos, Nacho; Casemiro, Ceballos (Lucas Vázquez, m.63), Modric; Isco (Marcos Llorente, m.78), Marco Asensio, Benzema (Mariano, m.59).

0 – Espanyol: Diego López; Javi López, Naldo, Hermoso, Dídac Vilà; Marc Roca, Darder (Víctor Sánchez, m.55), Granero; Piatti (Leo Baptistao, m.55), Hernán Pérez (Sergio García, m.70), Borja Iglesias.

Goals: 1-0, m.41: Asensio.

Referee: Mateu Lahoz.

Yellow cards: Nacho, Casemiro, Marc Roca, Javi López.

Santiago Bernabeu: Attendance, 67.758

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