After receiving a lot of criticism for their playing style, Real Madrid dispelled all doubts with their second consecutive victory in just 1 week. Although Espanyol deployed a 5-man defense at the Bernabeu, Kylian Mbappe and his teammates were still able to penetrate the opponent's net 4 times.
At home, Real Madrid even fell behind at the start of the second half before scoring 4 goals in a row. This is a problem for Los Blancos because since the beginning of the season, they have only scored once in the first half. After the match, captain Carlo Ancelotti shared that it was an issue that needed to be seriously considered, but after 38 matches, the team has not lost, so everything is not too serious.
Returning to the developments on the field with the highlight being Aurelien Tchouameni starting in the center-back position. Before the match, Ancelotti himself said he would rotate the positions of Antonio Rudiger and Eder Militao. In the end, that decision of the Italian coach was correct when Tchouameni played very well in the position he had experienced many times last season.
Against Espanyol, the French star successfully recovered the ball 6 times. With the qualities of a midfielder, it is not difficult for Tchouameni to successfully progress the ball. Los Blancos fans have been overwhelmed many times when they saw him penetrate directly into the opponent's defense.
In matches where it will be difficult to attack if we count them against the opponent, Ancelotti will put Luka Modric on the field from the start. Once again, he made the right decision. The 39-year-old veteran was the player with the most passes on the pitch (85) and in the final third (31). In addition, he also had 9 quality crosses.
Modric is still like that, always knowing how to make passes that tear up the opponent's defense. Kylian Mbappe is the one who benefits the most if Modric is behind. The French striker almost scored from an own goal by his senior. At the end of the match, Lukita was the one who created the second most chances, just behind Mbappe.
Modric has accepted not being able to play regularly since last season. He chose to stay and enter the field in reasonable situations. If he continues to maintain his current form, fans could still see the Croatian star play more this season, even though his importance may not be the same as before.
The last person mentioned is not Mbappe or Vinicius, it is Rodrygo. In addition to the goal to increase the score to 2-1, the Brazilian striker also stood out with passes in the opponent's third. He has the second best this index in the whole team (22), behind only Modric (31).
After the match, Rodrygo was highly praised by his coach and also received the MVP title. The victory over Espanyol once again proved that the Brazilian star is not a redundant player in the context of Mbappe joining the team.
Most recently, when France Football released the Top 30 Golden Ball list, Rodrygo was not on the list but that is no longer important. Whether he is a starting or a reserve is no longer important. As long as he can still play and still score regularly, that is the value Rodrygo is aiming for.
The Spanish press once mentioned that Real Madrid has a new super-class trio, BMV (Bellingham - Mbappe - Vinicius). However, Jude Bellingham himself posted a note and said, people should not forget the word "R" ( referring to Rodrygo). With his current good form, the Brazilian star is certainly still an indispensable piece for Los Blancos in this three-season journey.
