Vinícius Targets Espanyol as Madrid Kick Off LaLiga
Real Madrid arrive late to their own season. With the opening weekend trip to Real Sociedad postponed, their LaLiga campaign effectively starts on Saturday night at the RCDE Stadium, and one man walks into Cornellà with history – and confidence – on his side.
Vinícius Júnior.
The Brazilian has turned Espanyol into one of his favourite opponents. Opta data shows he has scored 5 goals in 11 LaLiga meetings with the Catalan club, three of them on Espanyol turf. No other team in the competition has conceded more away goals to him. For a player who thrives on rhythm and repetition, this fixture suits him perfectly.
The setting helps. The RCDE Stadium, hosting Madrid’s belated first outing, has already seen Vinícius celebrate three times in the league. He has managed the same tally at three other grounds, but against Espanyol the pattern feels more pointed: same rival, same stage, same threat running at the same back line.
On the opposite side of the story stands a striker in the middle of a personal surge. Roberto Fernández arrives in this second round in the best scoring spell of his LaLiga career. He has hit 3 goals in his last two league games, one more than he managed across his previous 22 appearances in the competition. That run includes his second LaLiga brace, delivered in the last round against Levante.
For Espanyol, that matters. If they are to spoil Madrid’s delayed opening night, Roberto’s form cannot cool now.
Mourinho’s perfect record
On the touchline, the numbers lean heavily towards white. José Mourinho, in his first spell at Real Madrid, never lost a LaLiga game against Espanyol. Six matches, four wins, two draws. No defeats.
Against no other opponent in the competition has Mourinho put together an unbeaten run of that length, though he has also gone six without losing against five other sides. Espanyol sit in that select group of teams who never managed to crack his Madrid in league play.
Manolo González knows the other side of that feeling. His record against Real Madrid in LaLiga tells a harsher tale: four games, three defeats, just one win. Only Barcelona and Villarreal have beaten him more often in the competition, with four victories each. Real Betis, like Madrid, have put three league defeats on his record.
So the picture is clear. Vinícius walks into a stadium where he scores. Roberto Fernández arrives in the kind of form that can tilt a night. Mourinho carries an unbeaten streak against these colours, while González has lived this fixture mostly from the wrong end of the scoreline.
One side clings to trends, the other tries to break them. Which story survives the night?
