Real Madrid continued their 100% win record in the season with a 3-1 victory over Espanyol in the LaLiga. Karim Benzema once again came to the rescue of the defending champions and scored two goals in the last few minutes to help his side achieve another win. Espanyol’s goalkeeper, Benjamin Lecomte, was sent off in the injury time of the second half for a late challenge.
We’ve broken down all the key stats for you to digest, including;
* shot maps
* xT (expected threat)
* pass networks
* xG timelines
* defensive duels
* average positions and much more!
We also try to answer some questions for you with the visuals;
How many shots were attempted by Espanyol? How many counterattacks were attempted by Real Madrid?
To navigate the stats gallery, simply click on the numbers to move through the pages.
Espanyol started the match in a 4-1-4-1 formation. They continued to play in the same formation and were heading towards a draw. Karim Benzema’s goal changed the dynamics of the game, and they played in a 4-4-1-1 formation before getting reduced to ten men.
Real Madrid played in their preferred 4-3-3 formation. Aurélien Tchouaméni, who is considered Casemiro’s long-term replacement, started in the midfield.
Espanyol ended the match with 35.13% ball possession. Their highest possession count was towards the end of the match.
Real Madrid had 64.87% ball possession at the end of the match. Carlo Ancelotti’s side had more than 50% of the possession in every phase of the match.
The home team was involved in 25 positional attacks and attempted ten shots from these attacks. Espanyol were a threat from the centre and generated a lot of xG rate from attacks created from the centre.
Real Madrid players were involved in 28 positional attacks, and they attempted eight shots from these attacks. Most of their attacks came from the left. Madrid also attempted eight counterattacks, with five of them coming from the right. They have always been a threat from the counters.
The home team attempted 15 shots, with four on target. Most of their shots were wide of the target and over the crossbar.
The home team attempted 15 shots. Real Madrid only had four shots on target of the attempted 18, with a 33.33% shot accuracy rate. Most of their shots were wide of the target and over the crossbar. The Espanyol defenders did well to block ten shots attempted by Madrid players.
The home team ended the match with a high xG rate of 2.24. They attempted six shots from inside the penalty box, with three shots on target.
Real Madrid ended the match with an xG rate of 1.86. They attempted six shots from inside the box, with four on target. Vinicius Junior scored the opening goal with Real’s first shot towards the goal.
The home team was involved in 276 passes with a 79.35% passing accuracy rate. They played a lot closer to each other in the midfield and rotated the ball in that particular area.
The visitors attempted 544 passes with a high accuracy rate of 90.44%. Real Madrid attacked more from the left side and a lot of passes were attempted towards Vinicius Junior.
In terms of passes to the final third, the home team attempted 43 passes with a 72.1% success rate. The full-backs, along with Javi Puado, were the targeted players.
Los Blancos attempted 62 passes in the final third, of which 50 were successful. Most of the links on the left side were created by Toni Kroos, David Alaba and Vinicius Junior.
Both teams contested 174 duels, and Espanyol won 85. They contested 69 defensive duels and had a high win percentage on the right side.
Overall, Real Madrid managed to win 50% of their duels. The above viz shows that Madrid players had a strong win percentage on the left side of the defence. They were poor inside the attacking half, where they lost most of their duels.
Espanyol won nine aerial duels, with three wins each inside the three sections of the pitch.
The visitors were dominant in the air and won 15 aerial duels. They won three duels inside the opposition’s penalty box.
Offensively, the home team won 14 duels. They failed to win these duels in crucial areas and lost the ball easily.
Real Madrid players won 34 offensive duels. They were poor on the left side of the attacks and lost most of the duels on that side.
The home team made 34 recoveries in the defensive third, 23 in the middle, and 11 in the final third. Most of these recoveries were made by the clever positioning of these players.
The visitors made 36 recoveries in the defensive third, 21 in the middle and 18 in the final third. They made most of the recoveries by winning a duel.
Real Madrid left it late to take three points from this game. The manager will be happy with the performance his players gave on the field. Espanyol tried their best to stop Real Madrid from taking three points, but their resilience was broken in the dying minutes of the match.
Visuals via Wyscout