Jordi Lardín will continue to be the protagonist of much of the press coverage of Espanyol’s next visit to the Santiago Bernabéu. The hero of the last white-and-blue triumph in the white colosseum is still without a successor capable of repeating the feat he achieved in 1996, when he signed the double of Espanyol’s last victory in the Whites’ field . This time, Diego Martínez’s men fell (3-1) in a match that was too long in the first half and too short in the second.
Rafa Marañón warned, a few moments before the start of the match, that in order to score at the Bernabéu, Espanyol needed to warn. And this is what the white-and-blues have done from the start: three clear goals in the first quarter of an hour of play. In the second, Joselu opened the scoring after a sensational finish at the first touch with the left that he directed at the box, making good a great maneuver and subsequent assistance from Rubén Sánchez on the right. The striker has shown no mercy to the team where he formed, and which is also his favorite victim: he has scored eight goals in 10 games. This goal, which allows him to surpass a Benzema whom the Whites have not needed, places him again as the second top scorer in the League, with 12 goals. It was the first goal that Espanyol had scored at the Bernabéu since 2014.
The joy was short-lived for Diego Martínez, who despite defending well in the low block, with numerous defensive assists, began to suffer bravely when Real Madrid decided to put in another gear. Espanyol ceased to threaten Courtois’ goal midway through the first half and Ancelotti’s men had enough to activate Vinicius Jr, who was unforgiving in the first interning in which he found a hole to shoot. The tie spurred the whites, who took advantage of the inertia to finish encircling Espanyol in their third of the field. Little by little, like the Malayan drop, Real Madrid kept warning until they found the second in a mismatch from Espanyol in a corner. Militao, with a header, punished the visitors’ defensive lapses.
Without losing their defense, the white-and-blues tried to get their heads out of the cave a little in the second half, but the Santiago Bernabéu continued to make too much progress: the ball was almost always under the white’s control, and whenever the he recovered, Espanyol had too many meters in front to run. Madrid, comfortable despite the short advantage, has turned on the automatic pilot. In the final stretch, the ball continued to travel close to the domains of the white-and-blue area. The tight score has given Espanyol some hope, which finished the match with all its offensive arsenal on the pitch. With Denis, Puado and Melamed, accompanying Joselu, Braithwaite and Darder, the white-and-blues have tried to repeat the feat of the Wanda Metropolitano and Camp Nou, where they managed to draw this season. Espanyol, however, has not finished believing in the miracle. With the entire team overturned, the white-and-blues did not have the strength to avoid the whites’ third goal, signed by Asensio. The curse of the Bernabéu will last at least one more year.