Espanyol vs Real Madrid Highlights, La Liga 2024-25: ESP 1-0 RMA ...

Huge win for relegation threatened Espanyol as it jumps out of the drop zone with this victory against Real Madrid, which could look back on this result in regret later in this campaign.

Vinicius Junior goes for goal from an angle but hits it wayward. He protests for a deflection but nothing doing from the referee.

The Espanyol goalkeeper has been tremendous in the second half, making some crucial saves and coming off his line to parry the ball and keep it away from his goal.

The full-back runs down the pitch and makes sure he is present inside the box. A lofted ball comes to him from the other flank as he hits it down at the ground to make the ball bounce and nestle into the far corner past a diving Courtois. Espanyol leads!

Rodrygo has been a livewire down the right flank, and once again he gets into the box, skips past an Espanyol and tries to squeeze the ball through the near post but Garcia makes the faintest of touches as the ball ricochets against the upright and falls to his gloves.

A mirror of the first half, except the Real Madrid players have become more eager to find the back of the net, almost restless to a degree. Espanyol players are still employing the counter attack, which has almost worked in its favour on a few occasions.

It seems Madrid cannot. Fede Valverde takes this free-kick and hits it straight at the wall.

Rodrygo tries to skip past his man at the edge of the box but the winger is stopped in his tracks with a block, which the referee thinks is a foul. Good chance for Madrid to take the lead, but can it?

Just a minute after Romero fluffed his chance, Madrid almost scores Bellingham tries to send the ball through a sea of legs towards the Espanyol goal but goalkeeper Garcia makes a fine save. However, a lurking Mbappe tries to send the rebound into the net but it seems the ‘keeper gets something, with what looked like some help from the upright.

Carlos Romero takes it down well and engages in a race with Rodrygo, darting towards Courtois’ box. The full-back reaches the box and goes for goal but skies the shot over the crossbar.

A big second 45 minutes needed by the Madrid side if it wants to increase the gap at the top of the points table.

Resolute show from Espanyol’s backline so far, except for that one time when Vini Jr did manage to find the gaps and find the net. If it wasn’t for the wrestling match between Mbappe and Lozano, Madrid would have been leading at the break. As for the host, the only chance came early on in the match with that shot which asked questions of Courtois’ goal. At the lemon break, we wait for the deadlock to be broken.

Rodrygo tries to find the target from a close range free-kick but instead hits the wall and earns a corner. The resultant corner is also defended well by the host’s backline.

Almost the entire Espanyol team is inside its own box, trying to parry away any crosses coming in from either flanks, curled in by the Madrid players.

Espanyol has tried to hit its opponent on the counter and succeeded once when the side troubles Courtois. However, the game has been controlled by the visiting Madrid side.

The Brazilian winger enters the box, goes past a host of blue shirts, and curls it past the opposition ‘keeper. He goes away to celebrate the referee disallows it. Why? Because in the build up to the strike, Kylian Mbappe wrestles down Pol Lozano player to the ground. However, a closer look, according to the commentators, suggests that the Espanyol player was also wrestling with the World Cup winning forward.

That’s the real chance for Espanyol, a shot from the outside of the box tests Thibaut Courtois but the Belgian dives to his left and collects the attempt.

So far so good for Espanyol as the Madrid players try to penetrate the opposition box. A win is very much needed for Carlo Ancelotti’s men if they want to strengthen their hold on the top spot.

The match is underway at the RCDE Stadium!

Atletico Madrid has beaten Mallorca 2-0 courtesy goals by Samuel Lino and Antoine Griezmann. Diego Simeone’s side is just one point behind Real. If Espanyol’s manages an upset tonight then it will be huge in terms of the La Liga title race.

Garcia (gk), Hilali, Kumbulla, Cabrera, Romero, Carreras, Lozano, Kral, de Zarate, Puado, Fernandez

Courtois (gk), Lucas, Tchouameni, Rudiger, Garcia, Ceballos, Valverde, Bellingham, Rodrygo, Mbappe, Vini Jr.

On Friday, GXR announced that it won’t be LIVE streaming this weekend’s La Liga matches due to technical issues. Hence, there won’t be any official stream for the Espanyol vs Real Madrid match in India. However, you can stay tuned to Sportstar’s website and app for the latest updates from the match.