The appearance of Vinícius Junior from the bench was decisive in Real Madrid’s comeback against Espanyol at the Santiago Bernabéu (4-1), after an own goal by Thibaut Courtois, with goals from Dani Carvajal, Rodrygo, ‘Vini’ and Kylian Mbappé from the penalty spot.
After a goalless first half with Real Madrid missing chances, the sixth matchday of the league was decided in the second half after a similar error by each goalkeeper on a cross from the side. Courtois sent it into his own goal and Carvajal took advantage to equalise four minutes later, in the 58th minute.
Vinícius set up Rodrygo’s goal with a great pass from the left and scored the third. On the brink of the end, a penalty for holding Endrick was taken advantage of by Kylian Mbappé to extend his good scoring streak and seal the victory for Real Madrid.
Technical sheet
4 – Real Madrid: Courtois; Carvajal (Lucas Vázquez, m.59), Tchouaméni, Militao, Fran García; Fede Valverde, Modric, Bellingham (Rüdiger, m.83), Guler (Vinicius, m.55); Rodrygo (Endrick, m.83) and Mbappé.
1 – Espanyol: Joan Garcia; Jofre (Cardona, m.77), Pol Lozano, Alex Kral; Cheddira (Veliz, m.46) and Puado (Pere Milla, m.80).
Goals: 0-1, m.54: Courtois in own door. 1-1, m.58: Carvajal. 2-1, m.75: Rodrygo. 3-1, m.78: Vinicius. 4-1, m.90: Mbappé from penalty.
Referee: Munuera Montero (Andalusian College). He showed yellow cards to Mbappé (32), Valverde (60), Bellingham (81) and Vinícius (81) for Real Madrid; and to Pol Lozano (10), Joan García (74) and Romero (8) for Espanyol.
Incidents: Match corresponding to the sixth day of LaLiga EA Sports played at the Santiago Bernabéu in front of 72,284 spectators. A corridor was made for seven Spanish Olympic athletes who won medals in Paris 2024, the canoeists Marcus Cooper, Carlos Arévalo, Rodrigo Germade and Diego Domínguez, the water polo players Paula Leitón and Pili Peña, and the judoka Fran Garrigós. A minute’s silence was observed in memory of the former Italian footballer Salvatore ‘Toto’ Schillaci.
Ancelotti: “We are slowly returning to our best form”
Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti praised his team’s improved image in their thrashing of Espanyol in a “very complete match” and assured that “little by little” they are reaching their “best version”.
“It was a complete match, we played much better, with more rhythm, having many opportunities. I am happy. We played faster in attack, touching the ball more quickly, some better movements, we covered the area well,” he said.
“We didn’t have a striker to hold the position like Kylian, but Rodrygo came on fantastically well for the second goal and Bellingham on other occasions. Mobility is a very important weapon, and recovery was good. We tried to recover by pressing after losing the ball and we did it quite well. We are leaving with a good dynamic. We are slowly returning to our best form,” he added.
Manolo González: “The result is quite exaggerated”
For his part, Manolo González, Espanyol coach, regretted the errors made by his team that led to Real Madrid’s goals, was proud of the image left at the Santiago Bernabéu and said that the 4-1 was a “quite exaggerated result.”
“When you come to play against Real Madrid on this pitch you cannot make any mistakes. Failure penalises you because they do not forgive you. You can defend sensationally for a large part of the match but then make a big mistake and it causes the final result,” he said in a press conference.
“The result is quite exaggerated when you look at the game, to be honest. They had chances but they were avoidable goals. In situations like this it is difficult to win,” he added.
Manolo González admitted that he is leaving with “anger” after the thrashing at the Bernabéu after having felt that they had a firm chance of achieving a better result and taking points from the home of Real Madrid.
Madrid / EFE
#Real #Madrid #turn #Vinícius #beat #Espanyol
2024-09-22 17:30:39
