Vinícius Targets Familiar Victims as Real Madrid Kick Off LaLiga
Real Madrid arrive late to their own season. With the opening-round trip to Real Sociedad postponed, their campaign effectively starts on Saturday evening at the RCDE Stadium.
Waiting for them: Espanyol. Waiting for Espanyol: Vinícius Júnior.
Vinícius and a favourite stage
The Brazilian steps into this second-round clash in a place every forward craves – certain that chances against this opponent usually end the same way.
Opta’s numbers back up the feeling. Vinícius has scored 5 goals in 11 LaLiga games against Espanyol. Three of those have come across his six previous visits to the RCDE Stadium, the setting again for tonight’s meeting.
No side in the competition has conceded more away goals to him. Espanyol share that unwanted status with three other grounds where he has also struck three times, but the Catalan club know the pattern all too well.
He doesn’t just enjoy the fixture. He relishes the venue.
Roberto Fernández finds his moment
Espanyol, though, have a forward with a story of his own.
Roberto Fernández comes into the game in the sharpest form of his LaLiga career. He has scored 3 goals in his last two league matches – one more than in his previous 22 appearances combined.
That sudden surge includes his second LaLiga brace, delivered in the last round against Levante. For a striker who has often worked in the shadows, this is a rare window with the spotlight fixed firmly on him.
Now he faces Real Madrid, with the responsibility of turning a hot streak into something more substantial.
Mourinho’s perfect record, González’s problem opponent
On the touchline, the numbers tilt heavily towards the visiting bench.
José Mourinho has never lost to Espanyol in LaLiga. During his first spell in charge of Real Madrid, he faced them six times in the league: 4 wins, 2 draws, no defeats.
There is no other opponent in the competition against whom he has stayed unbeaten across so many games, though he has also gone six without defeat against five other sides. Espanyol, though, sit right at the heart of that statistic.
Across the technical area, Manolo González carries a very different record into the night.
The Espanyol coach has lost 3 of his 4 LaLiga matches against Real Madrid, winning just once. Only Barcelona and Villarreal have beaten him more often in the competition, with 4 defeats each. Real Betis, like Madrid, have also put three losses on his record.
The pattern is clear. When González meets Spain’s heavyweights, the cost is usually high.
A familiar script, or a break from history?
So the stage is set: Vinícius on a ground where he regularly scores, Roberto Fernández riding a rare wave of confidence, Mourinho protected by an unbeaten run, González trying to rewrite a story that has gone against him too many times.
History leans one way. Form pulls in several directions.
By the final whistle at the RCDE Stadium, we will know which of those forces still holds.
