Real Madrid, the leaders of the LaLiga, were shock at Espanyol, who had lost 1-0 thanks to a late Carlos Romero goal.
The result means Real, on 49 points, are one point clear of Atletico Madrid, who beat Mallorca 2-0, before next weekend’s Spanish capital derby at Santiago Bernabeu.
Third-placed Barcelona, who play Alaves on Sunday, are on 42 points.
After latching onto Kylian Mbappe’s pass in the 21st minute on Saturday, Vinicius Jr. appeared to have given Real the lead. However, the goal was disallowed after the Frenchman had fouled Espanyol’s Pol Lozano in the build-up.
In the second half, the hosts managed to keep Real at bay, with the goalkeeper Joan Garcia saving efforts from Lucas Vazquez, Rodrygo, and Jude Bellingham all brilliantly saved.
When Romero fouled a running Mbappe from behind in a breakaway attack, the Real players appealed for a VAR review, but he was only given a yellow card.
“This foul is inexplicable, the decision they made, the referee, the VAR. The player needs to be looked after and protected the most. It was a very bad tackle that risked injury, which fortunately did not happen”, said Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti.
Luka Modric, Brahim Diaz, and Raul Asencio were brought in by the Italian manager, but they were unable to perform any magic, and Romero was the one to break the deadlock in the 85th minute.
The defender latched onto Omar El Hilali’s through-ball and fired home to lift Espanyol to 17th on 23 points, one place above the relegation zone.
“I think this gives us life, we were playing good matches, competing, we had to suffer … Our people give us an edge and at home we have to be strong, it’s going to be very difficult to take points away from us here”, Romero told DAZN.
Source: Aljazeera
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