Real Madrid suffered yet another defeat on Sunday following their 1-2 loss to Espanyol.
Madrid were without a win in their last two games across all competitions prior to the game against the Barcelona-based side.
A draw against Villarreal last weekend and a defeat to Sheriff Tiraspol in the UEFA Champions League in midweek meant that Madrid needed to put in a strong performance before the international break.
However, Carlo Ancelotti’s side failed to redeem themselves as they were hit with yet another loss on Sunday.
The Italian recalled Luka Modric, Toni Kroos, and Lucas Vasquez into the starting lineup with the latter filling the role of the right-back.
Espanyol took the lead in the 17th minute of the game through former Real Madrid academy graduate Raul de Tomas, who latched unto Adrian Embarba’s pass into his path to open the scoring.
Madrid saw majority of the ball in the 45 minutes, hitting three of their seven attempted shots on target but Diego Lopez, who once was in goal for the Los Blancos made impressive saves to deny his former side an equaliser.
After the recess, Rodrygo Goes was substituted into the game, taking the place of youngster Eduardo Camavinga, who looked to have picked up a knock in the first half of the encounter.
Madrid’s afternoon went from bad to worse in the 60th minute, when former Barcelona midfielder Aleix Vidal doubled the lead for the home team.
His goal forced the introduction of Casemiro and Luka Jovic into the field of play as Madrid for the second consecutive time had to chase the game from behind.
10 minutes after his entry, Jovic set up Karim Benzema to pull one goal back for the Los Blancos, who looked desperate to get the needed results.
But for an offside decision against Benzema, Eden Hazard would have ensured at least a point for the away side, after a great strike into the back of the net was ruled out due to the Frenchman’s position.
Espanyol managed to hold off the challenge from the 34 times league winners, walking away with all three points at the expense of Madrid.
While the loss sees them maintain their position at the of the league table ahead of the international break, Madrid are without a win in their last three games across all competitions.
