Vinicius extends the League until the clásico

Vinicius decreed in Barcelona that La Liga will last at least another week, until they return to visit the city on Sunday to play the clásico at Camp Nou. After a start to the match full of underground skirmishes with El Hilali, the Brazilian rescued his illuminated version and knocked down a willing Espanyol with two great goals, a team that can’t get back on its feet and is starting to look like it will finish the season distressed. With the victory after a poor match, Madrid gave themselves the option to delay Barça’s title a little longer, something that will only happen if they beat them on Sunday.

Read more So the Madrid alive, at least

ESPEspanyol

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Marko Dmitrovic, Fernando Calero, Leandro Cabrera, Omar El Hilali, Carlos Romero, Urko González de Zárate, Edu Expósito (Charles Pickel, min. 60), Rubén Sánchez (Antoniu Roca, min. 60), Ramon Terrats (Jofre Carreras, min. 72), Tyrhys Dolan (Pere Milla, min. 72) and Roberto Fernández (Kike García, min. 72)

RMAReal Madrid

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Andrii Lunin, Dean Huijsen, Ferland Mendy (Fran García, min. 13), Trent Alexander-Arnold, Antonio Rüdiger, Aurélien Tchouaméni (Eduardo Camavinga, min. 83), Brahim Díaz (Gonzalo García, min. 52), Jude Bellingham, Federico Valverde, Thiago Pitarch (Franco Mastantuono, min. 52) and Vinícius Júnior (César Palacios, min. 83)

Goals 0-1 min. 54: Vinicius Junior. 0-2 min. 65: Vinicius Junior

Referee Jesús Gil Manzano

Yellow cards Brahim (min. 21), Vinicius Junior (min. 22), Omar (min. 25), Edu Expósito (min. 46), Trent Alexander-Arnold (min. 49), Gonzalo (min. 74), Urko Gonzalez (min. 84)

The moment is tremendously uncertain. Arbeloa’s team has started rolling downhill and nothing seems capable of stopping the dizzying descent. They couldn’t do it with the possibility they had until a few weeks ago to fight for La Liga. It didn’t matter. From there came a terrible April in which they only won one match. From the start, at the RCDE Stadium, they didn’t even seem motivated knowing that if they didn’t beat Espanyol they would hand the league to Barça, whom they would find celebrating next Sunday at Camp Nou. Real is an empty, frayed team, without tension, and almost no pride left. Their own end feels very long. They have been disconnected for too long, between bad results and internal turmoil. Ceballos stayed home again, Carreras didn’t appear on the field even when Mendy got injured at 12 minutes, and Camavinga watched from the bench another start by Thiago, and he wasn’t even chosen to replace him in the second half.

Opposite them was a team going the other way. After weeks of hardship, Espanyol remains determined to recover the path that launched them at the start of the season. They still have soul, showing they don’t want to keep falling after 16 matches without winning. And they play with the conviction that following a plan, committing to it, and persevering can stop the collapse. Edu Expósito and Urko hold the center and launch Rubén Sánchez on the right and Carlos Romero on the left. And that’s how they reach Lunin’s area.

When the match was moving the other way, it did so in fits and starts: a handful of dribbles from Bellingham, a lateral cross from Trent that ends in a shot from Vinicius hitting the post. Little else. Valverde and Brahim couldn’t find their place, or couldn’t find a way for their place to connect with the flow of the team. It’s not easy. Everything is very heavy in this team’s play, very slow, with players nailed to the pitch. Madrid melts away match after match and in that landscape only Tchouameni barely holds on. In the general dismantling, the Frenchman resists in his position, sweeping the center efficiently, keeping the ball with cautious and accurate distributions. The anchor is almost the only thing that survives from that formidable ship.

And then there’s Vinicius, of course, a legendary tightrope walker, a guy who plays with the illusion of imminent downfall, but who, unlike the team, doesn’t end up falling. The Brazilian started arguing with El Hilali before the first ball approached them, and saw a yellow card before his dance partner. Everything seemed to lead to his derailment while he suffered a carousel of fouls. But it was only the flashy appetizer of two brilliant flashes. Gonzalo came out and the first thing he did was return a wall pass to the area, from which Vinicius made a cut that left two opponents on the ground. Also a shot that went in after hitting the post. Then, Bellingham left him alone in the same spot with a backheel and the Brazilian nailed the ball in the top corner with an overwhelming instep strike. After the neighborhood skirmishes, he went into a trance and created chances that Mastantuono and Gonzalo wasted. And so he delayed Barça’s party by a week, which could fall on them on Sunday at Camp Nou and which Madrid will only avoid with a win.

Read more THE COUNTRY of the future starts today

Standings

Position	PT	PJ	PG	PE	PP
11 RAY	42	34	10	12	12
12 VAL	39	34	10	9	15
13 ESP	39	34	10	9	15
14 ELC	38	34	9	11	14
15 MLL	38	34	10	8	16

Position	PT	PJ	PG	PE	PP
1 BCN	88	34	29	1	4
2 RMA	77	34	24	5	5
3 VLL	68	34	21	5	8
4 ATM	63	34	19	6	9
5 BET	53	34	13	14	7