There are weeks in a season that feel longer than they are, and then there is a 13-day pause after a 7-0 Clásico defeat. Real Madrid came back into Liga F this Saturday at 20:30 hours at the estadio Alfredo Di Stéfano needing more than just a result against Espanyol. They needed a response, and they needed it to look like the team Pau Quesada believes they can still be.
That is why this match mattered beyond the table. Real Madrid had spent the first international break of the season without domestic football, while 13 first-team players left for international duty. María Méndez, Eva Navarro and Athenea del Castillo were with Spain against the United States. Bella Andersson, Felicia Schröder and Filippa Angeldahl were with Sweden against Lithuania. Lineth Beerensteyn, Janou Levels and Lotte Keukelaar were with the Netherlands against Hungary. For a squad trying to settle after a bruising defeat, the break was both a pause and a disruption.
Pau Quesada’s message was clear: Real Madrid needed a very high level and the three points against Espanyol. He also described it as a match that should be competitive and entertaining, but the real emphasis was on standards. That is the key point here. After a 7-0 loss, the issue is not simply whether Madrid win again. It is whether they can restore control, rhythm and confidence without letting the previous result linger in the background.
The numbers around Felicia Schröder help explain why she is one of the more important figures in that reset. She was highlighted as Real Madrid’s second top scorer in Liga F with five goals, and her productivity has already given this team a different attacking reference. In 180 minutes, she has produced five goals and one assist, which is an eye-catching return even in a small sample. More broadly, her profile gives Madrid something they lacked in the Clásico: a player who can turn efficient attacking sequences into actual damage.
That matters because this kind of fixture is often decided by whether the favorite can turn pressure into clean chances quickly. Real Madrid do not need a dramatic reinvention; they need a sharper version of themselves. The first international break can do that to a team. It can interrupt momentum, but it can also create perspective. If Madrid want this to become a season defined by recovery rather than regret, the response after the Clásico has to arrive immediately.
Espanyol, of course, are there to make that difficult. And with Real Madrid still carrying the memory of the 7-0 loss, the test is not only tactical. It is emotional. Quesada said the team must think about the importance of the three points rather than the break itself, and that is exactly the right frame. In a league season, the best answer to a setback is not a speech. It is a performance that looks like a reset.
For Madrid, this was the first chance to prove the Clásico was an outlier and not a warning sign. For everyone else, it was a reminder that the season’s first pause can be useful, but only if the team returns with a clearer idea of what it wants to be.
