Real Madrid struggles continue with shock defeat at Espanyol

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Espanyol stuns Real Madrid in 2-1 win

Real Madrid falls to its second defeat in a week and fails to pull away from Atletico at the top of LaLiga.

Updated: May 17, 2023, 05:03 am

Real Madrid's struggles continued as they sustained a shock 2-1 defeat at Espanyol on Sunday.

Raul de Tomas and former Barcelona man Aleix Vidal scored for the Catalan club.

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Karim Benzema grabbed a goal back for Madrid, but they were unable to score an equaliser and suffered their first LaLiga defeat of the season.

"We weren't comfy. We conceded early and that makes the game tougher for you," Madrid defender Nacho said. "They got in behind us a lot, and we need to work on our defensive play and that will come with games.

"We've got a number of players missing, but we still have a good squad and we should be doing better than in our last three games. We need to improve at the back and respond."

Real Madrid slipped to their first loss of the LaLiga season.
LLUIS GENE/AFP via Getty Images

The result completes a poor week for Carlo Ancelotti's men after they also suffered a surprise loss to Sheriff in the Champions League on Tuesday.

Madrid dominated possession from the start but went behind after 23 minutes when de Tomas scored from close range.

The visitors also struggled to make their dominance count in the second half, and Espanyol doubled their lead on the hour mark when Vidal nutmegged Nacho and fired past Thibaut Courtois.

Benzema got Madrid back in the game 11 minutes later with a clinical finish into the bottom corner.

With six minutes remaining, Madrid thought they grabbed an equaliser through Eden Hazard, but his goal was ruled out for offside.