Real Madrid secured a narrow 1-0 La Liga win over Espanyol at the Santiago Bernabeu on Saturday night.
Marco Asensio scored the only goal of the game in the 41st minute with Gareth Bale rested for the encounter.
Here’s what we learned from the contest…
During his short reign at the Santiago Bernabeu so far, Julen Lopetegui has made no secret of his intentions to give young Spanish players the platform to grow. One player who epitomises that is Marco Asensio.
Following the departure of Cristiano Ronaldo to Juventus over the summer, the youngster has been promoted to being a prominent figure in Madrid’s attack.
The fact that Madrid didn’t break the bank on a replacement for the Portuguese is a testament to the faith the manager has in the rest of his squad – and more directly, Asensio, to take his place in that front three.
The 22-year-old is regarded as one of the most highly-rated young players in the world and on Saturday night, showed what he’s capable of again.
When the ball rather fortuitously fell into his path inside the box after Luka Modric’s deflected pass, his drilled finish into the far corner from a tight angle was picture perfect. It capped yet another encouraging performance, repaying his manager’s faith.
Don’t let the clean sheet fool you. Madrid’s defence was not deserving of it and have Espanyol’s wayward shooting to thank for it.
Under Lopetegui, Madrid employ a high-line and that means they’ve got to be extremely cautious on the ball in certain areas which they weren’t. On three or four occasions, they were caught in possession and exposed on the break.
To the away side’s credit, that was their game plan, forcing transitions to create opportunities, but they didn’t capitalise on it in the form of goals.
A blunder by Los Blancos captain Sergio Ramos was glaring as it allowed Borja Iglesias to go clean through on goal. The striker couldn’t make it count though as his delightful chipped finish unfortunately bounced off the crossbar with Thibaut Courtois rooted to the spot.
Karim Benzema needs to be careful. This makes it three games straight in which he’s failed to find the target and while it would be hypercritical to call this period a ‘drought’, the nature of his performance on Saturday night suggests that he may be heading for one.
The 30-year-old was completely anonymous as he only had 23 touches in the match, mustering just one shot at goal which wasn’t even on target.
People can harp on about the runs he makes and his overall contribution but the fact is Mariano Diaz, his replacement on the hour mark, did all that and more when he came off the bench. He created opportunities and was a live wire up front. Benzema should be looking over his shoulder.
The Frenchman has been like a different player at the start of the season and must now ensure that he doesn’t relapse into the misfiring striker of recent years.