After having lost all their chances to win La Liga due to dropped points against Valencia, Valladolid and Celta Vigo, Real Madrid are passing through a difficult emotional moment. Luckily for them, this weekend they will face Espanyol, a team that has traditionally helped Los Blancos to cheer up.
The Barcelona-based side has visited the Santiago Bernabeu ten times in the last ten years, both in La Liga and the Copa del Rey. Statistics are pretty good for Madrid: eight victories and two draws.
Some of these wins have remained etched in Los Merengues memory, such as the 4-3 victory in 2007 after the Madridistas came back from a 1-3 earning three crucial points to ending up conquering the La Liga title that season.
Real Madrid’s superiority over Espanyol at the Santiago Bernabeu is also clear from a scoring perspective. Los Blancos have netted 30 against the Catalans, while they have only conceded eight. That means in the last decade the averaged result when Real have hosted Espanyol is 3-0 or 3-1.
In fact, for finding Espanyol’s last victory at the Santiago Bernabeu, one has to look back to 1996, when they earned a 1-2 win. Thus, it seems pretty reasonable that the Catalans can be the best rival for Real Madrid to gain confidence ahead of the Champions League final.
