Real Madrid 2-0 Espanyol: A goal on either side of the break gave Los Blancos a comfortable win over the Catalan club
When it looked like Real Madrid could find no way through at the Santiago Bernabeu, it was Eder Militao’s absolute rocket from 30 yards that opened the scoring. Then followed Kylian Mbappe’s belter from the edge of the area in the second half to put the match beyond doubt.
Espanyol arrived in the capital with reason to believe they might bloody a nose or two. Their early-season form had been steady, with three wins and a draw out of four. Their pressing at the Bernabeu was organised, and for the opening exchanges they held their shape against Madrid’s carousel of midfield passes.
Then Militao rewrote the script after 22 minutes played. The centre-back advanced into open space unchecked, shifted the ball perfectly to his right, and unleashed a strike that pierced the air and dipped beyond Marko Dmitrovic. The goalkeeper managed to get his fingers on it but it barely affected its flight path.
Madrid got their second almost immediately after the restart, when the impressive Vinicius Junior powered down the left, before coming to a stop and playing the ball backwards to Mbappe at the edge of the box. But he had dragged four players towards him, leaving Mbappe with all the time in the world to curl the ball into the bottom left corner of the goal.
It was the fifth goal the ruthless forward has scored in as many games in La Liga, and the seventh in six games in all competitions.
Espanyol barely troubled Thibaut Courtois and it was all the home side. Vinicius struck a post and Mbappe had a few other nice moments when he could have scored. Vinicius was taken off with 13 minutes to go and he seemed visibly frustrated at his removal.
There was time for some celebration that was unconnected to a goal, after midfielder Jude Bellingham made his return to the pitch in the 82nd minute, having missed the first six games of the season as he recovered from a shoulder surgery.
