Carlo Ancelotti rested first-choice players, such as Antonio Rudiger, Ferland Mendy and Vinicius Junior, and Madrid struggled for fluency. Espanyol even took the lead in the 54th minute with an own goal from Thibaut Courtois, who miscued a seemingly harmless shot into his net.

Vinícius then scored himself, and Kylian Mbappé added a late penalty to complete a 4-1 win at the Santiago Bernabéu. Despite their early struggles to find the back of the net, Madrid completely dominated the match,

Real Madrid were forced to come from behind in the second-half but nonetheless they secured all three points against Espanyol. Despite dominating the ball throughout most of the opening 45 minutes, the Madrid forwards struggled to combine for the final pass,