Saturday 28th February, was the 150th clash between RCD Español and Real Madrid, it was also their last meeting in Barcelona’s Olympic Stadium as Español will have their new stadium open for the next season.
De La Peña & Co.
Los periquitos had their confidence sky high after successfully winning the Catalan derby with a brace by Ivan De la Peña and started the game with firm confidence, keeping possession and constantly threatening the Madrid defense. As far as the first half, it seemed Mauricio Pochettino’s men will get their reward as they did win a lot of free-kicks which were proving to be a constant threat to Los Blancos. The man who had all eyes on him, De la Peña kept good control of the midfield getting past Lassana Diarra quite often at ease.
2nd Half
However, Los Blancos managed to control the game right from the start of the second half, getting quite a lot of passes together, something they should have done in the first half as well. With Raúl still playing as an Attacking Midfield player, Juande Ramos’s men were having difficulty stepping their attacks up, as Robben and Higuaín were shackled by the Español defense which proved to be very tight so far.
Guti gives Madrid the spark
Juande Ramos looked for change, making a double substitution, sending Guti in for Sniejder and Marcelo for a rather surprised Higuaín. The substitutions proved worthy for Los Merengues as Moisés made a clumsy challenge on Guti, giving away a free-kick right in middle of the Español half. In came a superb shot from Guti and Los Blancos had their noses in front after Kameni tipped the ball to the crossbar and it came back to hit the post, in again and this time crosses the line! Meanwhile, Mauricio Pochettino looked to change things around as well, brining in Raúl Tamudo for a rather disappointing Iván Alonso. Moments later, Real Madrid did an amazing midfield play with almost every midfield player getting a touch on the ball and went forward with Marcelo racing forward with the ball in to the box, the Brazilian really seems to be adjusting well with his left side midfield role as he made an assistance to Raúl, neatly sliding the ball to the skipper who made no mistake with his first touch, guiding the ball brilliantly home from outside the box.
De La Peña & Co.
Los periquitos had their confidence sky high after successfully winning the Catalan derby with a brace by Ivan De la Peña and started the game with firm confidence, keeping possession and constantly threatening the Madrid defense. As far as the first half, it seemed Mauricio Pochettino’s men will get their reward as they did win a lot of free-kicks which were proving to be a constant threat to Los Blancos. The man who had all eyes on him, De la Peña kept good control of the midfield getting past Lassana Diarra quite often at ease.
2nd Half
However, Los Blancos managed to control the game right from the start of the second half, getting quite a lot of passes together, something they should have done in the first half as well. With Raúl still playing as an Attacking Midfield player, Juande Ramos’s men were having difficulty stepping their attacks up, as Robben and Higuaín were shackled by the Español defense which proved to be very tight so far.
Guti gives Madrid the spark
Juande Ramos looked for change, making a double substitution, sending Guti in for Sniejder and Marcelo for a rather surprised Higuaín. The substitutions proved worthy for Los Merengues as Moisés made a clumsy challenge on Guti, giving away a free-kick right in middle of the Español half. In came a superb shot from Guti and Los Blancos had their noses in front after Kameni tipped the ball to the crossbar and it came back to hit the post, in again and this time crosses the line! Meanwhile, Mauricio Pochettino looked to change things around as well, brining in Raúl Tamudo for a rather disappointing Iván Alonso. Moments later, Real Madrid did an amazing midfield play with almost every midfield player getting a touch on the ball and went forward with Marcelo racing forward with the ball in to the box, the Brazilian really seems to be adjusting well with his left side midfield role as he made an assistance to Raúl, neatly sliding the ball to the skipper who made no mistake with his first touch, guiding the ball brilliantly home from outside the box.
Juande Ramos looked convinced, his men had secured all three points, and substituted Arjen Robben with the forgotten man, Javier Saviola. With only 20 minutes remaining Real Madrid kept good control of the game, not at all looking like the team they were in the first half, going forward and rushing back giving Los periquitos no room for a goal.
Nene came close on the 88th minute, bending the free-kick over the wall but wide off the post as Casillas dived full length to keep his sheet clean for the game.
The game ended and Real Madrid closed the gap on Barcelona to 4 points, not for long though as Barcelona face Atlético Madrid on Sunday, in what will prove to be an interesting game as both the sides come back to La liga with disappointing Champions league results.
RCD Español 0-2 Real Madrid
Nene came close on the 88th minute, bending the free-kick over the wall but wide off the post as Casillas dived full length to keep his sheet clean for the game.
The game ended and Real Madrid closed the gap on Barcelona to 4 points, not for long though as Barcelona face Atlético Madrid on Sunday, in what will prove to be an interesting game as both the sides come back to La liga with disappointing Champions league results.
RCD Español 0-2 Real Madrid
66' Guti
71' Raúl
Espanyol: Kameni - Sanchez, Jarque, Pareja, Garcia - Hurtado (Lolo 83), Luis Garcia, Roman (Coro 73), De La Pena, Nene - Ivan Alonso (Tamudo 62)
Real Madrid: Casillas - Sergio Ramos, Pepe, Cannavaro, Heinze - Diarra, Sneijder (Guti 58), Robben (Saviola 75) - Higuain (Marcelo 58), Huntelaar, Raul
Yellow Cards: Pepe 04, Sneijder 47, Moises 64, David Garcia 86
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