A 3-0 win in the UEFA Champions League in midweek had taken Carlo Ancelotti’s side to four consecutive wins in which they had averaged 3.25 goals, but they were failing to hit their stride in the early stages at RCDE Stadium.
Los Blancos lost Antonio Rudiger to injury in the opening quarter of the match, at which time the only shot on target was a well-struck drive from Jofre Carreras, which Thibaut Courtois saved well.
Real had the ball in the Espanyol net midway through the half, but Vinicius Junior’s strike was chalked off for a push off the ball from Kylian Mbappe on Pol Lozano.
Despite three-quarters of first-half possession, it took until the 39th minute for the visitors to register a shot at goal, but Jude Bellingham’s 20-yard curling effort was straight down the throat of Joan Garcia in the Espanyol goal.
The reigning champions were out to make Garcia’s evening much less comfortable after the break, and within eight minutes of the restart, Mbappe had failed to turn home a rebound following a stinging Bellingham strike.
Soon after, Dani Ceballos forced another save and Vinicius failed to keep a close-range effort from flying over the bar.
With 15 minutes left, in-form Rodrygo collected a pass from Mbappe and danced his way through Los Periquitos’ defence as he cut in from the right, but his strike ricocheted off both Garcia and the post and stayed out.
Two minutes later, Mbappe tried the same from the left, but Garcia denied him at full stretch.
In response, Manolo Gonzalez’s side tried to cause Los Merengues trouble on the counterattack, but none of their forays forward generated real opportunities.
That was until five minutes from time when having cleared a Madrid free-kick, the home side threw numbers forward and worked the ball to the right side, where Omar El Hilali dug out a cross to the far post, which was volleyed home by Carlos Romero.
Espanyol survived seven added minutes to secure a third home win in six meetings over Real, whose lead atop the table is now just one point.