It seems that Real Madrid will be playing rock and roll, playing guitar, happy in its wild register. Against Espanyol, they had a more academic first half, more structured in their creation, full of chances, but without the illumination of success. Until chaos and Vinicius appeared together, and Madrid went wild like on those nights when they play desperately. That’s how they got past Espanyol, who had held on with gritted teeth until the Brazilian turned up the music in the Bernabéu with great care for the volume due to the conflict with the neighbours.
4
Thibaut Courtois, Fran García, Dani Carvajal (Lucas Vázquez, min. 58), Éder Militão, Aurélien Tchouaméni, Jude Bellingham (Antonio Rüdiger, min. 83), Luka Modric, Federico Valverde, Rodrygo (Endrick, min. 83), Arda Güler (Vinícius Júnior, min. 54) and Kylian Mbappé
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The team from the same name is Joan Garcia, Leandro Cabrera, Omar El Hilali, Carlos Romero, Alvaro Tejero (Alvaro Aguado, min. 75), Marash Kumbulla, Jofre Carreras (Irvin Cardona, min. 75), Alex Kral, Pol Lozano (Jose Gragera, min. 66), Walid Cheddira (Alejo Veliz, min. 45) and Javi Puado (Pere Milla, min. 80)
Goals
0-1 min. 53: Courtois. 1-1 min. 57: Dani Carvajal. 2-1 min. 74: Rodrygo. 3-1 min. 77: Vinicius Junior. 4-1 min. 89: Kylian Mbappe
Referee Jose Luis Munuera Montero
Yellow cards
Pol Lozano (min. 9), Kylian Mbappe (min. 31), Federico Valverde (min. 60), Joan Garcia (min. 73), Jude Bellingham (min. 80), Vinicius Junior (min. 81), Carlos Romero (min. 87)
Vinicius had started on the bench, his first break in the eighth game of the season. Ancelotti left him off, like Rüdiger and Mendy, and brought on Fran García, Tchouameni as a centre-back and Arda Güler, who occupied the right flank and left the left for Rodrygo. The Turk did something unusual: without Vinicius on the pitch, Madrid rediscovered that other flank. There he joined Modric and even attracted Mbappé. And there the blurred game that Madrid had been playing suddenly became clear. Güler touched the ball and clarity appeared. Suddenly, Ancelotti’s team was flowing in the build-up, where it had moved in fits and starts. It monopolised the ball, with Espanyol watching in the front row. And bailing out water.
Real Madrid kept coming and coming: ten shots in the first half hour of monologue. Mbappé found himself with the ball several times and without defenders on his way to the goalkeeper. But all his attempts ended up in the hands of Joan García. Madrid produced on the right flank with Güler and Modric, and also, when the Turk paused, on the left, where Rodrygo and Bellingham began to spin. Then Mbappé got close to them and also caught chances there. Everything worked for Madrid, except their aim. Joan García was a magnet: he made saves without even stretching himself.
Espanyol, who had just returned to the top flight, were holding on to the succession of attacks without being able to catch their breath with the ball. Kral, Lozano and Tejero were only able to link up a couple of passes. The longest periods of respite were provided by Joan García when it was his turn to put the ball back into play. In the first quarter of an hour they were already dragging their feet as if they were defending a result in added time, which was already very close to the end.
But they still had a good time under the downpour. They reached the break with a clean slate despite 14 shots from Madrid, a small milestone. They had not tried so hard at the Bernabéu since August 2019 without scoring. The players were booed on the way to the dressing room. Everything could be heard in a Bernabéu with the PA system muted, with hardly any music in the minutes before or during the break, a crackling murmur.
The monotony was broken by a stray bullet. Carvajal failed to finish off a cross in the six-yard box, Joan García took the ball out looking for the space left by the full-back, and Jofre found himself running, chased by Güler. He reached the byline and tried to cross back. But the ball grazed the Turk and slipped between Courtois’ legs.
The response, with Vinicius already on the pitch, seemed to come out of a mirror. Bellingham reached the other end line and his shot slipped under the goalkeeper’s side. Carvajal, once again in the six-yard box, smashed the ball into the net. And almost without celebrating, apparently injured, he went to ask Ancelotti for a substitution.
The goals stirred up Madrid, and that agitation caused the disorder of what had until then flowed more Cartesian. The goals brought an urgency that the stopwatch did not require, but that gives life to Madrid, which continued to arrive, already disheveled, more rock and roll. But still without focus on the target. Espanyol held on. Until Vinicius accelerated. He took off down the left and took one of those pecks with the outside of the ball to the panic zone, right in front of the goalkeeper, where Rodrygo pushed the goal.
In the next run, Mbappé found him and Vinicius scored the third. The fourth was born from another wild outburst. Endrick saved a ball at the corner flag and began to advance with Romero hanging on his back. Until he reached the area and, from where there was nothing, he took a penalty, which Mbappé did succeed in doing to close another portion of rock and roll in a Bernabéu that flirts with silence.
