Espanyol vs Real Madrid. Spanish La Liga.
Cornella - El PratAttendance19,805.
Wednesday 28 February 2018 06:44, UK
Gerard Moreno scored a dramatic 93rd-minute winner as Espanyol beat La Liga champions Real Madrid 1-0 on Tuesday.
Real Madrid's five-game winning run came to an end as Moreno's fine finish from 15 yards flew past Keylor Navas, handing Espanyol their first win over Real in 22 attempts.
Espanyol arguably had the better of the chances beforehand, going close on three occasions through Moreno, while Gareth Bale went close with a point-blank header early on in an otherwise poor game.
The result means Real are third, 14 points behind leaders Barcelona, who play Las Palmas on Thursday. Espanyol are 13th, 12 points above the drop zone.
Cristiano Ronaldo was rested for the clash, while Karim Benzema was left on the bench, and neither side managed to break the deadlock in the first half.
Bale saw a close-range header well saved by Diego Lopez after Achraf Hakimi's deflected cross from the right, while Keylor Navas' poor clearance almost allowed Moreno to score at the other end, but the goalkeeper redeemed himself by tipping his effort wide.
Espanyol pushed early in the second half, hitting the top of the crossbar through Oscar Duarte's looping header, while Moreno tested Navas again with a header having got up above Achraf in the box.
Moreno went close again at the death, curling just wide with his left foot after turning well at an acute angle in the box, but he got the winner with the last kick of the game, drilling Sergio Garcia's cross first time into the ground and past Navas.
Real host Getafe on Saturday evening, live on Sky Sports Football at 7.45pm, while Espanyol go to Levante on Sunday at 11am.