Espi strikes late as Mourinho’s Real Madrid starts season with win
Madrid: New signing Carlos Espi scored a last-minute goal to give Real Madrid a 2-1 win away to Espanyol on Saturday to kick off Jose Mourinho’s second spell in charge at the club.
Espi, who joined from Levante in the summer, took advantage of a moment of confusion in the home defense caused by Kylian Mbappe to fire home.
Jude Bellingham put Real Madrid ahead in the ninth minute from Arda Guler’s cross, but Espanyol produced a physical display and leveled on half an hour through Alex Calatrava.
Mbappe was denied by an excellent save from Espanyol goalkeeper Marko Dmitrovic before halftime.
Real Madrid pressed hard in the second half, but it looked as if Espanyol would hold on until Espi’s late finish.
Sevilla took advantage of a red card to Athletic Club defender Yuri Berchiche after just 11 minutes to win 3-1 away to the Basque club.
Oso opened the scoring after a bad error from Spain goalkeeper Unai Simon just three minutes into the game. After Yuri’s red, Chidera Ejuke and Isaac Romero assured the win in the second half, with home defender Aitor Paredes scoring a consolation goal for the home side.
Newly-appointed manager Jose Mourinho said after the match, “I think we deserved to win, but Espanyol didn’t deserve to lose.
“In the second half, we maintained great control and applied a lot of pressure, we took a lot of risks. We deserved to win.
“But a team that plays like Espanyol, that defends like that and counter-attacks like that, with players pushing themselves to the limit and good organization, it’ll be tough for them to go home empty-handed. But we deserved it.”
Valencia and Celta Vigo drew a dull game 0-0 at the Mestalla Stadium, with home fans again showing their discontent with club owner Peter Lim and several players.
FC Barcelona kicks off its league campaign away to Elche on Sunday, while Atletico Madrid hosts Villarreal.