A year ago
Real Madrid dug out from a deficit to cut Barcelona's lead at the highest point of LaLiga to six places, with Vinicius Junior, Eder Militao and Marco Asensio scoring in a 3-1 win over Espanyol at the Santiago Bernabeu. Madrid entered Saturday's down having gone three matches without a success, and they took steps to lose additionally ground in the title race when Joselu's initial strike put Espanyol ahead.
In any case, an independent exertion from Vinicius Junior quickly evened out things up, before Militao gestured home at the back post to put the hosts on top before half-time. Asensio got away from in behind to net a third late on, guaranteeing Madrid went six focuses behind Barcelona in front of the Blaugrana's excursion to Athletic Bilbao on Sunday, with the Clasico rivals because of go head to head in a colossal conflict one week from now.
Espanyol paralyzed the Bernabeu with their most memorable real assault eight minutes in, Joselu directing a side-footed finish into the upper right corner after Ruben Sanchez broke past Eduardo Camavinga to cross. Madrid nearly went 2-0 down when Vinicius Souza's header constrained Thibaut Courtois right into it, however they were level following 22 minutes as Vinicius Junior skirted inside to twist a fabulous completion into the base right corner.
With Espanyol going under horrendous tension, Militao gave Madrid the lead six minutes before the break, heading Aurelien Tchouameni's fragile conveyance in off the crossbar. A last-ditch leeway from Vinicius Souza denied Rodrygo as Madrid kept on squeezing after the stretch, before Leandro Cabrera scraped a work wide at the opposite end.
Rodrygo then, at that point, shook the crossbar with a fine free-kick as Espanyol blurred, before substitute Asensio applied a quiet one-on-one completion to make the focuses protected in stoppage time.
What's the significance here? Madrid end unfortunate run. As a Heroes Association conflict with Liverpool and a colossal association game against Barcelona loom not too far off, it was pivotal that Madrid stopped a disappointing run. Carlo Ancelotti's men might have drawn three progressive association games interestingly since December 2019, and they realized any more dropped focuses may have demonstrated terminal to their title protection.
Notwithstanding, Madrid answered splendidly to Joselu's opener to turn the match on its head in quick style, and they presently approach the main seven day stretch of their season with a spring in their step.
Samba star sparkles once more. With Karim Benzema sidelined by a lower leg injury, Vinicius Junior generally looked the most probable possibility to lead a reaction for Madrid. As well as launching Madrid's rebound, the winger's set completion took him to 19 objectives this season, more than some other Brazilian player from Europe's main five associations (Neymar is second with 18).
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