Odd game. But Real have the win they needed, if not a scoreline that reflected their dominance, and stay in touch with those at the top. Thanks for reading everyone - good night.
Full-time: Real Madrid 2-0 Espanyol
Peeeeeeeeep.
90 mins: Booking for Martin, after pulling Isco back. And that’s the Real man’s last action, as Borja Mayoral comes on for the last few seconds.
88 mins: Ramos almost makes a frightful arse of himself by swinging for a clearance, missing it then falling down, but he manages to stab the ball away from trouble. Lucky boy.
87 mins: Just running down the clock now. Everyone’s happy with the result. Well, not happy: but everyone would be perfectly happy to go home at this stage. Ronaldo whips in a brilliant cross from the left, Vasquez gets a toe on it but can’t direct it past Pau Lopez.
84 mins: Ronaldo is down: repeat, Ronaldo is down.
Oh, no, wait he’s up again.
82 mins: Sub for Real: Modric off, Dani Ceballos on.
81 mins: Asensio flicks the ball into the box from the middle, Isco stretches to put it back into the danger area but it’s just behind Vasquez, and they can’t finish things off.
80 mins: Modric advances towards the goal with some purpose, shoots and it takes a whopping deflection off David Lopez: it could’ve gone anywhere, but luckily for Espanyol it went way wide.
78 mins: Hermoso chases a ball out of play with Ronaldo, giving him a little shove on the way and they have words. Not enormously friendly ones, I’d wager.
77 mins: A booking for Casemeiro: he’s not happy about it, on the basis that he got the ball, the only slightly issue being that he had to plough through Garcia’s legs in order to get it.
75 mins: Free-kick for Espanyol as they try to recover from that one-two punch, but Granero hits the cross too long.
71 mins: Espanyol really should be level, but instead they’re 2-0 down. Ramos is tackled in his own six-yard box, the ball is cut back to Baptistao with what is close to an open goal but Nacho is there to do just enough and put him off. Then a few seconds later, Darder is robbed in midfield by Ronaldo, Real streak forwards and Isco finds himself in some space, near the penalty spot, and he guides it into the corner.
GOAL! Real Madrid 2-0 Espanyol (Isco 71)
Oh boy, a rough minute for Espanyol...
69 mins: Asensio doesn’t quite have it today. He lines up a shot from about 25 yards with plenty of space ahead of him, but he drags is well wide. Meanwhile a sub for Real: Kroos is off, and Lucas Vasquez is on. An attacking move.
68 mins: Third sub for Espanyol: Sergio Sanchez goes down, pointing to something or other in his leg, and he’s replaced by former Real (and QPR) man Esteban Granero.
65 mins: Yellow card for Sanchez, who stops a nascent Real attack by rather cynically taking out Isco.
64 mins: Ach, great chance for Espanyol. Baptistao dashes down the right side of the area as they counter attack, he has Moreno in absolutely acres to his left, but the pass is poor and easily cut out. Then the same player chases a pass over the top and could be in on goal, but Navas is off his line like a shot to intercept.
62 mins: Ronaldo goes for a hooter of a first-time volley from a cross, but his left-footed effort just skews up in the air and goes over his head.
59 mins: Real have a corner from the left, it makes its way out to Modric about 25 yards from goal and he shoots...badly. All a bit disjointed from Real in the second 45.
56 mins: Bit of a lull. Real aren’t dominating like they were and while Espanyol are attacking a bit more, they’re still having problems breaking through. Ramos is moved to shout a bit at his colleagues, though.
53 mins: Modric chips a cross from the right corner of the area looking for Ronaldo, but it was too high and the great man looked a offside anyway. Other than that, it was good.
50 mins: Another chance for Espanyol: Navarro finds himself in space on the right side of the area, he shoots but Navas spreads himself and saves. Honestly, if Real contrive to throw this away then the Bernabeu needs to be slowly dismantled brick-by-brick and quietly used to build a donkey sanctuary.
49 mins: Espanyol counter down the left channel but Baptistao, with a couple of players to his right but a clear path to goal in front of him, for some reason tries to play in a colleague. He chose...poorly.
48 mins: Isco and Nacho - who absolutely sound like a knockabout comedy duo - try to create a crossing opportunity on the left, but the latter can only skew it behind.
46 mins: And we’re away for the second half. No changes for Real because, well, why would they?
The players are coming out, and it looks like Espanyol are making changes: Sergio Garcia is on for Jurado, and Marc Roca is off, replaced by Marc Navarro. Not sure whether that will mean a change in shape, but anything has to be worth a go.
One way traffic doesn’t do this justice. Real should be at least three up, so it’s perhaps actually not a surprise that they were almost hit with that sucker punch at the end there. Easy for your concentration to go when you’re this dominant.
Half-time: Real Madrid 1-0 Espanyol
Peeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep.
44 mins: And now they hit the post! A cross comes into the Real box from the left, Real make a massive balls of trying to clear it and the ball drops to Moreno, whose snap shot beats Navas and hits the base of the post. It would have been on of the great football injustices had Espanyol gone in at half-time level here.
42 mins: A shot! Espanyol have a shot! Moreno brings the ball down on the right, with Nacho claiming handball, he cuts in and propels the ball towards goal, but that’s about the best we can say about it. It dribbled into the arms of Keylor Navas. But hey - a shot. And on target too.
40 mins: Ronaldo hits a cross that is instantly blocked, and he thus obviously shouts at his colleagues in the middle. The resultant corner eventually makes its way to Kroos on the left, he booms in a big cross which Ronaldo gets a head to, but it was slightly high so he had little chance of making much of it.
38 mins: Nacho hoys in a cross from the left, but it’s bunted clear. Bit of a mystery how Real are only 1-0 up here. Espanyol are yet to have a shot, let alone one on target.
36 mins: First booking of the game, and surprisingly it’s for a Real player: Nacho gets a yellow for basically trying to get a piggyback from Baptistao. Neither the Espanyol forward, nor the referee, were having any of it.
33 mins: And Ronaldo has a cob on again. He finds himself mystifyingly free behind the Espanyol defence on the right, goal ahead of him and looking welcoming like the open arms of an old friend, but he shoots straight at the keeper.
31 mins: And Real nearly make it two immediately. They win the ball back in midfield, Isco clips a long pass from right to left, Ronaldo lines up a volley and catches it pretty well, but it goes over the bar.
30 mins: Simple enough. Ronaldo slips a neat ball through the defence, Isco runs on through and toepokes the ball through Pau Lopez’s legs.
GOAL! Real Madrid 1-0 Espanyol (Isco 30)
And that dominance is rewarded!
29 mins: To give you an idea of how much Real are dominating possession/territory, they’re essentially playing a 1-1-3-6 formation. Nacho and Achraf are two of the wingers, the rest are just sort of attacking.
27 mins: Don’t see this very often: Leo Baptistao is on the floor, holding his face, after an errant elbow from his own teammate (Sanchez) caught him full in the schnozz. He has to receive fairly lengthy treatment, but should be OK to continue.
24 mins: Isco does brilliantly to force a corner by pressuring Sanchez. He takes it short, Ronaldo crosses into the middle and Ramos gets on the end of it, powering a header towards goal buy Pau Lopez does well to tip over the bar with a flying save.
22 mins: Nacho does brilliantly to spin and dig a cross out from right in the corner on the left. Isco gathers at the back post, lays it back to Modric who shoots, but it goes well wide.
19 mins: Isco whhhhhhhhhips a cross over from the left, and Ronaldo is the width of a police truncheon away from getting a toe on the delivery. Very close.
17 mins: Nacho gets down the left (he’s basically playing as a left-winger at this point) but his cross is blocked. Real are essentially dominating this but Espanyol are sticking at least nine men behind the ball so it’s tough to break through.
16 mins: Nailing their colours to the mast here, then...
12th minute pic.twitter.com/LEfveI1YGE
— Spanish Football Pod (@tsf_podcast) October 1, 2017
14 mins: Asensio puts Martin on his bottom out on the Madrid right, but his cross is weak and hits the first man. Ronaldo tries to dig the ball out of his feet about 30 yards out but sort of stumbles and is tackled. He sulks, briefly.
13 mins: Espanyol creeping back into the game...a little bit. Although Lopez has to stoop in order to block a through pass that would have set Ronaldo clear on goal.
10 mins: All Real so far. Achraf tries to make tracks down the right but he can’t quite control the ball and his advance is stopped.
7 mins: Isco does some trickery on the left, clips a cross to the back stick where Ramos goes for a volley, but skews it wide. A diving header might have been better there, but then again I’m not the one sticking my bonce where flying boots are.
5 mins: Kroos himself takes the corner, it’s half-cleared to Asensio outside the area and his volley, hit into the turf, bounces wide.
4 mins: Kroos, playing on the left of Real’s midfield diamond, runs down the left but with little support he can only cross against the shins of a defender.
1 min: We’re away, and instantly there’s a chance for Real: a long pass from Ramos splits the Espanyol defence like it’s the head of a protester, Isco is through on goal and shoots but Lopez spreads himself well and batters the ball away.
Chants of ‘Y Viva Espana!’ ring around the Bernabeu. Maybe everyone is just big fans of Belgian (!) popstress Samantha.
Christ...
BREAKING: Catalan health services raises number of people injured by police Sunday to 761.
— The Associated Press (@AP) October 1, 2017
Ronaldo is sitting on the steps in the tunnel. He looks pensive. Or it might just be wind.
Oh, probably should have mentioned this before: Gareth Bale limped out of Real’s game against Dortmund the other day, hence his absence. It looked like cramp at the time, but Zidane said this week: “It’s muscle fatigue, but we don’t like to take any risks.”
“From what I’ve gathered through the years, La Liga’s governing body seems resolutlely knuckleheaded,” writes Kari Tulinius. “But even by their standards demanding that Barcelona’s match against Las Palmas go ahead seemed downright awful. And I can’t imagine that Espanyol’s players will have their focus fully on the game today. Thankfully an international break is coming up and the three Catalan clubs can take a breather. Hopefully this game is without incident.”
Weird old scenes in Barcelona earlier. Due to the police being too busy koshing people about the head over the Catalan independence referendum, Barca’s game against Las Palmas was held behind closed doors. That would seem to be the worst of both worlds, but hey, what do I know. Here’s a report of the game anyway, if that’s for you.
So that’s a debut for 18-year-old right-back Achraf Hakimi, with Dani Carvajal ruled out “indefinitely” after tests revealed he had a heart condition. Jesus. Incredible that they can catch these things, and also quite wonderful.
Team news
Real Madrid
Navas; Achraf, Varane, Ramos, Nacho; Casemiro, Modric, Kroos, Isco; Asensio, Ronaldo. Subs: Casilla, Vallejo, Lucas Vasquez, Llorente, Mayoral, Ceballas, Tejero.
Espanyol
Pau Lopez; Martin, Hermoso, Sergio Sanchez, Sergi Darder; Javi Fuego, David Lopez, Jurado, Marc Roca; Leo Baptistao, Gerard. Subs: Diego Lopez, Navarro, Naldo, Garcia, Granero, Diop, Vila.
Preamble
Real Madrid’s start to the season hasn’t quite been tip-top. After six games (everyone else has played seven) they find themselves a whopping ten points shy of Barcelona at the top of La Liga. Which at this stage of the season is obviously a distance from the end of the world, but neither is it ideal. What’s funny was how they suddenly switched themselves on for the Champions League away at Borussia Dortmund in the week, whose own start to the campaign has been stonking. It was as if they heard Tony Britten’s* theme music, woke up and thought “Ah! Big boy’s school now.”
They shall need to fix up, look sharp soon though. Defeat to Espanyol would leave them way astray, defeat which is obviously unlikely but not completely beyond the realms: handsome Quique Sanchez Flores’s side have gone three unbeaten now, and possibly fired by the spirit of Catalan nationalism (although probably not really) they could give Zizou’s boys a bloody nose.
*As an aside, Britten said of his theme that “there’s a rising string phase which I pinched from Handel and then I wrote my own tune. It has a kind of Handelian feel to it but I like to think it’s not a total rip-off.” The piece he’s talking about is Zadok the Priest, as embedded here. See if you think it’s a total rip-off or not...
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