{"id":74051,"date":"2026-08-22T03:25:07","date_gmt":"2026-08-22T03:25:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/74051\/"},"modified":"2026-08-22T03:25:07","modified_gmt":"2026-08-22T03:25:07","slug":"real-madrid-vs-espanyol-prediction-pick-for-saturday-8-22-26","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/74051\/","title":{"rendered":"Real Madrid vs. Espanyol prediction, pick for Saturday 8\/22\/26"},"content":{"rendered":"

Some three months after the end of the 2025\/26 season, La Liga is back, and Real Madrid<\/a> wants vengeance. After dropping two consecutive La Liga titles to arch-rivals Barcelona, Los Blancos re-upped with Marc Cucurella, Denzel Dumfries, Yan Diomand\u00e9, and Bernardo Silva this summer, hoping to make up the eight-point deficit on Bar\u00e7a. <\/p>\n

Real Madrid will begin its 2026\/27 campaign on Saturday with a 3:30 p.m. ET (9:30 p.m. local) clash against Espanyol on the road. <\/p>\n

Los Blancos are -215 favorites<\/a> at DraftKings Sportsbook<\/a> to start their season off with three points, and Los Periquitos are +600. There are +360 odds that the teams will share the points.<\/p>\n

Below, I\u2019ll break down this much-anticipated season opener and provide my favorite bet.<\/p>\n

Real Madrid vs. Espanyol Best Bet:<\/p>\n

Kylian Mbapp\u00e9 to Score and Real Madrid to Win (-105): Mbapp\u00e9 found the back of the net in the teams\u2019 first matchup last season, and he\u2019s coming off of Golden Boot titles in La Liga, the Champions League, and the World Cup. Los Periquitos allowed the second-most shots on target per 90 minutes last season, a disaster against a finisher as clinical as Mbapp\u00e9.<\/p>\n

Real Madrid vs. Espanyol prediction, pick<\/p>\n

By Real Madrid standards, 2025\/26 was a massive disappointment, as it went trophyless and finished eight points behind the Blaugrana atop the league table, including a 2-0 defeat late in the season to effectively seal its fate. Additionally, Xabi Alonso only lasted seven months in charge, and \u00c1lvaro Arbeloa couldn\u2019t turn it around. Los Blancos made massive changes in the offseason, completely revamping their defense, signing Diomand\u00e9 to shore up the right wing position, and bringing back legendary manager Jos\u00e9 Mourinho. Espanyol, meanwhile, finished a solid 11th, its best finish in the top flight since 2018\/19. Los Periquitos made mostly quiet business during the transfer window, but adding Unai N\u00fa\u00f1ez from Celta Vigo should be an upgrade, as should \u00c1lex Calatrava, who was one of the best players in the Segunda Division last season. <\/p>\n

The names on Madrid\u2019s roster require no introduction. Kylian Mbapp\u00e9 won the Golden Boot in La Liga, the Champions League, and the World Cup, Vinicius J\u00fanior had 22 goals and 10 assists in all competitions, and Jude Bellingham stole the show with timely goals at the World Cup. Los Blancos\u2019 new additions are just as impressive; Cucurella was a linchpin in Spain\u2019s World Cup triumph, and Diomand\u00e9 became the most valuable African player of all time after his own exploits at the tournament. Last season, Madrid scored 77 goals and managed 6.66 shots on target per 90 minutes, both of which were the second-most in La Liga, and there\u2019s no reason to expect regression in 2026\/27. Additionally, Los Blancos gave up the fewest goals, fewest shots on target, and fewest goals per shot, and after bringing in two of the world\u2019s best fullbacks in Cucurella and Dumfries and an everyday Premier League starter at center-back in Ibrahima Konat\u00e9, they should be set to improve. Between the sticks, Thibaut Courtois is still one of the world\u2019s best, as he demonstrated during the World Cup. Madrid wasn\u2019t great at playing the offsides trap, and it couldn\u2019t quite contain Barcelona\u2019s wings when they played, but that\u2019s a high bar that Espanyol doesn\u2019t meet. <\/p>\n

Los Periquitos had a pretty egalitarian attacking approach in 2025\/26, with Kik\u00e9, Roberto Fern\u00e1ndez, Pere Milla, and Carlos Romero each contributing at least six goals, and Fern\u00e1ndez is off to a hot start so far this season, netting twice in the season-opening win over Levante last Sunday. Kik\u00e9 and Milla are also still on the roster, so although Romero made the move to Villarreal, the core of the team that attempted the ninth-most shots on target per 90 minutes last season is still intact. Espanyol didn\u2019t finish very effectively, ranking sixth-to-last in goals despite all of its shots, but Fern\u00e1ndez is still young, and Javier Hern\u00e1ndez and Calatrava both finished well in the second tier last season. Los Periquitos were somewhat more gettable defensively last season, allowing the second-most shots on target per 90 minutes and committing the fifth-most fouls, but goalkeeper Marko Dmitrovi\u0107 proved to be a brick wall, keeping 10 clean sheets and ranking sixth among qualified shot-stoppers in save percentage. Espanyol also ranked in the top half of the league in interceptions. <\/p>\n

It won\u2019t be easy, but Los Blancos should be able to start the season off with a win. Los Periquitos were heavily reliant on crosses last season, and Real Madrid allowed the third-fewest in the league before adding Cucurella and Dumfries, who can terrorize the wings in either their defensive or attacking third. It wouldn\u2019t be a huge surprise if Espanyol managed to manufacture a decent chance after an interception (Los Blancos were intercepted the second-most times last season, in part because of their dominance of possession), but Courtois should be able to keep them out. I don\u2019t have quite the same faith in Dmitrovi\u0107, as strong as he was last season; Mbapp\u00e9 scored on him once in 2025\/26 and should do so again now that he has both Vinicius and Diomand\u00e9 to set him up.<\/p>\n

Best Bet: Kylian Mbapp\u00e9 to Score and Real Madrid to Win (-105)<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Some three months after the end of the 2025\/26 season, La Liga is back, and Real Madrid wants…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":74052,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[82,1743,28008],"class_list":["post-74051","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-madrid","tag-madrid","tag-soccer","tag-sports-betting-picks"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74051","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=74051"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74051\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/74052"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=74051"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=74051"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=74051"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}