Zidane taking no chances against struggling Espanyol
Real Madrid's three LaLiga defeats this season have come against sides floundering in the bottom half of the table.
Teams from the lower reach of the LaLiga table have been able to outfox Real Madrid three times this season with all defeats coming away from the Santiago Bernabéu. 'Los Blancos' travel to Barcelona with the warning alarms already sounding as Zidane's men face Espanyol on Sunday at 22:00 CEST.
"We know we're playing the bottom side, but in football, as we've seen on numerous occasions that can count for nothing. We'll take nothing for granted and set out to play as we did in the recent game against Mallorca", stated the French coach in Saturday's press conference
Madrid's three defeats have come against Real Mallorca (now in 18th place in the table) in Palma, eleventh placed side Levante and Real Betis in 13th place. All three losses saw Madrid relinquish the lead in LaLiga and with Barcelona only managing a draw at Balaídos yesterday, a draw at the RCDE Stadium would see the side from the capital regain top spot tonight.
Real Madrid have also seen this season how sides from the middle or lower reaches have been capable of taking a point at the Bernabéu: Valladolid (14th), Betis (13th), Athletic (9th) and Celta (16th).
Espanyol yesterday sacked manager Abelardo and sporting director Rufete will oversee the struggling side for the remainder of the 2019/20 campaign as they aim to avoid a drop to the second tier for the first time since the 1993/94 season.