Two screamers launch Madrid past Barca's neighbours

Real Madrid's clash against their fiercest rivals, Barcelona, has yet to come, but today, Barca's neighbours, Espanyol, were a good enough motivation for Los Blancos to put in an excellent performance. The Catalans have been fantastic so far in the new La Liga campaign, as they have sat just behind the duo of giants in the table. Yet, they didn't stand a chance at Santiago Bernabeu - 2-0.

The game's opening hour gave the crowd little excitement, but the two notable moments in front of Espanyol's custodian Marko Dmitrovic - were goals!

Twenty-two minutes into the game, Madrid opened the scoring with a mesmerizing long-range missile. However, neither Kylian Mbappe, Vinicius Junior, Arda Guler, nor Federico Valverde unleashed it. It was Eder Militao!

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The Brazilian scored arguably the most beautiful goal in his career - out of 15 he scored in total - and gave Los Blancos an edge at the break.

Someone perhaps expected Espanyol's quick response in the second half, but the opposite happened - the home crew threw the decisive punch, but this time over a non-surprising scorer, as Mbappe doubled Xabi Alonso's team's lead with a nice shot outside the box.

Following that goal, Madrid started playing more relaxed, and that display brought several more chances, mainly over Vini, who hit the post in the 65th minute. The visitors had their first chance two minutes later, when Roberto Fernandez's header went narrowly wide of Thibaut Courtois' left post.

The only notable moment in the final quarter of an hour was Jude Bellingham's return to the pitch after a shoulder injury that separated him from the pitch for over two months.

This Madrid's triumph increased their advantage over Barcelona to five points, since Alonso's men won all 15 points in five La Liga rounds. Barca will have a chance to continue the pursuit and close the gap tomorrow against Getafe at home (22.00).

LA LIGA - MATCHDAY 5

Friday

Betis - Sociedad 3-1 (1-1)

/Hernandez 7, Remiro 49 og, Fornals 69 - Mendez 13/

Saturday

Girona - Levante 0-4 (0-1)

/Eyong 43, Alvarez 49, Romero 70, Koyalipou 90+2/

Real Madrid - Espanyol 2-0 (1-0)

/Militao 22, Mbappe 47/

19.30: (2.40) Alaves (3.20) Sevilla (3.40)

19.30: (1.60) Villareal (3.90) Osasuna (6.00)

22.00: (3.10) Valencia (3.15) Ath.Bilbao (2.60)

Sunday

15.00: (2.40) Rayo Vallecano (3.30) Celta (3.00)

17.15: (5.00) Mallorca (3.50) Atl.Madrid (1.75)

19.30: (2.00) Elche (3.30) Oviedo (4.00)

22.00: (1.23) Barcelona (6.75) Getafe (15.0)

*** odds are subject to change***