Real Madrid’s 2026-27 La Liga campaign finally gets underway on Saturday evening, as Jose Mourinho leads his side to RCDE Stadium to face Espanyol. It marks a delayed start to the season for Los Blancos, who were left out of the opening round of fixtures altogether because of the sheer number of players the club had involved in the closing stages of the 2026 World Cup. Their actual gameweek-one assignment, a home clash with Real Sociedad, has been pushed back to August 26, which means this trip to Barcelona effectively doubles as their season curtain-raiser a week later than everyone else.
That scheduling quirk doesn’t make the occasion any less significant. Barcelona have won the title in each of the last two seasons, and wrestling the crown back from their fiercest rivals is very much the stated ambition at the Santiago Bernabeu this year. A strong start against an Espanyol side who have already played once feels important, even if it arrives slightly out of sync with the rest of the division.
Espanyol could hardly have asked for a better opening weekend, thrashing Levante 3-0 with Roberto Fernandez helping himself to two goals in the process. It was an emphatic response to a mixed 2025-26 campaign that saw Manolo Gonzalez’s side finish 11th in the table. For a long stretch of that season, in fact, Espanyol looked like genuine outsiders for a European spot, playing with real freedom and purpose in the first half of the campaign before a difficult second half saw them slide back down the standings. Gonzalez will be hoping his squad can rediscover that early-season form and sustain it for longer this time around.
There has also been substantial turnover in the Espanyol squad this summer, with five new arrivals coming in and ten players departing the club. It gives this Espanyol side a notably different look to the one that finished last season, and Saturday’s match will offer an early indication of how well the new faces have bedded in against the very toughest opposition Spanish football has to offer.
Historically, this has been a lopsided fixture. Espanyol have won just 46 of their 201 previous meetings with Real Madrid, against 119 defeats. That said, the Catalans do have some recent pride to draw on: they beat Los Blancos 1-0 at RCDE Stadium as recently as February 2025, even though Real Madrid won both league meetings between the two sides last season by an identical 2-0 scoreline.
Real Madrid, for their part, head into the match on the back of an encouraging and largely unbeaten pre-season. Mourinho’s side won four of their five friendlies, including victories over Ferencvaros, Deportivo La Coruna and Schalke 04, with their only non-win a 2-2 draw against Fiorentina. It’s been an eventful summer off the pitch as well, with the club backing their manager with a host of high-profile signings — Yan Diomande, Marc Cucurella, Carlos Espi, Denzel Dumfries, Ibrahima Konate and Bernardo Silva have all arrived at the Bernabeu. There was good news on the retention front too, with Vinicius Junior — who had been strongly linked with a move to Arsenal over the summer — putting pen to paper on a new long-term contract to remain at the club.
Espanyol will be without three players for the visit of Real Madrid. Kike Garcia (hamstring) and Javi Puado (knee) are both sidelined through injury, while Leandro Cabrera will serve a suspension. There’s also a fitness concern over Edu Exposito, who was substituted with a muscle issue during the closing stages of the win over Levante and will need to be assessed before the squad is finalised. Should the midfielder be ruled out, it would open the door for Pol Lozano to come into the starting XI. Fernandez, on the back of his midweek brace, is expected to keep his place in the final third.
Real Madrid’s absentee list is considerably longer. Eder Militao (muscle), Rodrygo (knee), Raul Asencio (thigh) and Ferland Mendy (hip) are all unavailable through injury, while Endrick and Aurelien Tchouameni — both nursing muscle issues of their own — require late fitness tests before their involvement can be confirmed one way or the other.
There could also be a selection surprise in midfield, with a lack of pre-season minutes potentially seeing Jude Bellingham start this one from the bench. New arrival Diomande may also have to settle for a place among the substitutes for his first competitive involvement. Elsewhere, though, expect plenty of fresh faces in the XI: Dumfries, Konate, Cucurella and Bernardo Silva all look set for competitive debuts, while Kylian Mbappe is expected to lead the Real Madrid attack at RCDE Stadium.
Espanyol (probable XI): Dmitrovic; El-Hilali, Riedel, Nunez, Hinojo; Gonzalez, Lozano; Calatrava, Hernandez, Dolan; Fernandez
Real Madrid (probable XI): Courtois; Dumfries, Huijsen, Konate, Cucurella; Valverde, Bernardo; Diaz, Guler, Vinicius; Mbappe
