Real Madrid thrash hapless Espanyol to remain ten points clear at the top of La Liga

04:24 04/12/2013
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Mail
  • Pinterest
  • LinkedIn
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • WhatsApp
  • Pinterest
  • LinkedIn
  • Real Madrid dismantled Espanyol 5-0 at the Estadio Bernabéu on Sunday night to remain ten points clear of arch rivals Barcelona in the La Liga table, with just 13 games remaining.

    José Mourinho’s side were never troubled and strolled home with five goals from Cristiano Ronaldo, Sami Khedira, Gonzalo Higuaín (2) and Kaká.

    The build-up to the game was dominated by speculation around Mourinho’s future, given his trip to London this week and André Villas-Boas’ sacking as Chelsea manager earlier in the day. The Portuguese coach opted to keep a low profile afterwards, sending out assistant Aitor Karanka to speak to the press.  Karanka declined to comment on Mourinho’s future, but used the opportunity to praise the performances of Higuaín and Kaká, who had both been below par in recent games.

    “Higuaín is one of the best players in the world, with a special character,” said Karanka. “When he is not happy you see it in his face, and when he is happy you see it too. Kaká is another who you know when they are enjoying their football. Today they were spectacular.”

    With Pepe suspended Mourinho gave Ricardo Carvalho a rare start at centre-half. Espanyol coach Mauricio Pochettino named a young side and the visitors began the game looking to squeeze up and pressure Madrid’s midfielders in possession. Unworried, Madrid soon began to dominated possession and territory. By contrast Espanyol looked anxious and continually gave the ball away.

    Some nice skill from Ronaldo freed Marcelo to cross but Higuaín – without a goal in eight games – hooked his volley too high. The Portuguese then whistled a shot wide from 20 yards. The inevitable seeming goal arrived though when Espanyol centre-back Raúl Rodríguez passed the ball straight to Özil. It was quickly moved via Higuaín to an unmarked Ronaldo who shot low past Kiko Casilla for his 30th goal in 25 La Liga games. 

    This unsurprisingly did little for Espanyol’s confidence and they continued to struggle painfully. Madrid doubled their lead with an excellent team goal featuring a super flick by Özil which opened up the Espanyol defence for Khedira to calmly shoot past Kiko Casilla and Higuaín almost made it three before the break.

    Pochettino said afterwards that his team had frozen and not played as he and they had expected. “Madrid gave us lots of problems, but above all we had problems playing our own game,” said the Argentine coach. “All the preparation work we had done during the week did not come out on the pitch. As Madrid are in incredible form and one off the best teams in the world, we were always going to have problems.”

    Both coaches made half-time changes, with Mourinho replacing an out of sorts Carvalho with Raphaël Varane and Pochettino sending on Sergio Garcia and Raúl Baena for Álvaro and Coutinho. It made little difference.

    Higuaín’s mood improved hugely just two minutes into the second half when he ran onto a perfectly slid Kaká pass and lashed the ball in at the near post for 3-0. Madrid kept attacking and Özil and Ronaldo missed good chances before the Brazilian got the fourth, bursting past the last defender to shoot across Casilla and in off the far post.

    Confidence high Kaká then laid on the fifth, skinning Espanyol right-back Juan López, before crossing perfectly for Higuaín to rifle home. With ten minutes remaining Mourinho gave the Barnabéu crowd what they wanted, as homegrown teenage striker Álvaro Morata got a run with the game long won.

    Recommended