Real Madrid vs Espanyol Prediction & Betting Tips (21 September)

Real Madrid's start to the season is sluggish and it shows. In almost every meeting, the Merengue come close to the penalty area but in the end, it is they who win. Last weekend, in a trap match on the pitch of Real Sociedad, Mbappé and his partners, dressed in orange, had to settle for two penalties to collect the 3 points while the Basques hit the posts three times in victory. 0-2. During the week, against Stuttgart as part of the 1st day of the league phase of the Champions League, the Madrilenians showed a very pale face but they took the win with a score that absolutely did not reflect match 3 -1. However, the statistics are there to prove it, Real Madrid has only lost one TCC match in a year, it was in the league against Atlético Madrid.

 Relegated then promoted, Espanyol Barcelona hopes to establish itself over time in the 1st division. This obviously requires victories and good shots and this was the case last weekend, against Deportivo Alaves of a Javi Puado touched by a hat-trick, victory 3-2. It will be recalled that this success comes in addition to that gleaned before the truce for the reception of Rayo Vallecano 2-1 and a parity score at the Wanda Metropolitano against Atlético Madrid 0-0 which nevertheless besieged the Catalan cage. Clearly, casually, the residents of Llobregat are slowly moving up the ranking to 11th at the start of this day and will travel to the capital on a series of three days without defeat. 

Real Madrid have changed the way they play, the departure of Kroos hurts almost as much as the good of Mbappé's arrival in the capital. The baseline does not exist and a more direct game is for the moment adopted by Ancelotti and his staff. In addition, a boy like Camavinga who seems to be the most capable of distilling the game as Kroos did is on the flank (injured) and absent this evening in the same way as the central Joan Martinez (crosses) and Alaba (return to form ). We will forget to mention the long absence of Brahim Diaz (return planned for January) following a muscle injury contracted against Sociedad. Ceballos is also OUT. 5 goals in 7 TCC matches with Real Madrid, Kylian Mbappé finds his canes as a bonus with dazzling accelerations like against Stuttgart or Sociedad last weekend.

The main candidate for the Ballon d'Or, Vinicius Jr, is completely failing at the moment. Before talking about Javi Puado, man of the match against Alaves, let's talk about the players who were forced to withdraw from this same meeting. Calero and Exposito, probably OUT again tonight. Closed parenthesis, Javi Puado scored a hat-trick last weekend but it is always good to remember that the latter was one of the main architects of the promotion of the Catalan club with Braithwaite since he scored 16 goals in D2. He will obviously be expected this evening.