Mourinho survives the first battle: Real Madrid's old problems return to the surface

Real Madrid came flying out of the blocks and needed only a few minutes to turn their superiority into a goal. Arda Guler whipped in a precise cross, Jude Bellingham rose highest and buried it in the ninth minute. The lead brought no control, though. Espanyol steadied themselves quickly and started to threaten Thibaut Courtois.

Courtois then rescued Real Madrid from a dangerous chance in the 26th minute. A few minutes later, Alex Calatrava levelled the score.

Judged on the quality of the chances, Espanyol were the more troublesome side through key spells of the first half, despite trailing on the scoreboard.

Espanyol's goal was no isolated defensive lapse. It revived an old question about the balance of the back line. Real Madrid lacked a genuine defensive anchor in that moment, someone to intervene early and snuff out the attack or read the pass that led to the shot inside the box. These details matter all the more when the team leans so heavily on players with an attacking bent, because any loss of possession can open up a large and worrying space in front of the defence.

Should Mourinho want to impose a more rigorous approach, sorting out this weakness will be one of the most telling things to watch in the coming matches.

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Real Madrid improved after the break and took a firmer grip on the ball. Turning that control into clear chances proved a different matter. At times they lacked the ideas to break down Espanyol's defence, and the hosts stayed dangerous on the counter, still capable of threatening Courtois's goal.

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Just when a draw looked certain, Real Madrid found the answer on their bench. Espi pounced on defensive confusion inside the box and lashed home in the 90th minute, snatching victory and handing his side their first three points of the Mourinho era.

That goal says plenty about the impact the substitutes can make. It also masks an uncomfortable truth: Real Madrid never settled the game through clear attacking superiority. The win came from punishing a moment of confusion in the Espanyol defence, not from an organised move that showcased total dominance by the Whites.

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The win handed Mourinho a perfect start on paper, but it offered little proof that Real Madrid have shaken off the problems that plagued them across the past two seasons. A lack of attacking solutions, difficulty controlling the tempo, gaps that let the opponent create danger: all of it surfaced to varying degrees against Espanyol.

Reading too much into a single match would be premature, of course, particularly with the season barely under way and the players still adapting to their coach's ideas. Yet if these flaws keep resurfacing against stronger opposition, what showed up in Catalonia tonight will harden from early observations into signs of something deeper.

Three points went to Real Madrid, and for Mourinho that matters most at this stage. The performance, though, left the question hanging. Was this simply a scrappy opening-day win, or will the same problems dog the team despite the Portuguese coach's return?

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