Good morning and welcome to Eurosport's LIVE coverage of the Spanish Liga fixture between Real Madrid and Espanyol. We'll bring you all the action as it happens at the Santiago Bernabeu. Kick off is at 12:00 GMT.

This wasn't a vintage Real Madrid performance, but it didn't need to be. Zidane's men got the job done comfortably in the end and they move to the top of La Liga at least until Barcelona's match against Real Mallorca later this evening. In truth, Espanyol offered very little over the 90 minutes.

FULL TIME: Real Madrid 2-0 Espanyol

Darder is shown a yellow card for a late tackle as this match peters out.

There will be just two minutes of stoppage time played at the end of the match.

As was planned before the red card, Brahim comes off the bench for the final few minutes.

Zidane has taken the decision to reshuffle his defence after that red card and on comes Militao.

Melendo comes on for Espanyol, but even with Real Madrid down to 10 men this game is surely as good as over.

That red card shown to Mendy means that Real Madrid will be without the French left back and Marcelo against Valencia next week. Does that mean we could see Bale at left back for that match?

SENT OFF! Real Madrid are going to finish this match with 10 men. Mendy trips an Espanyol player and is shown a second yellow card. That was foolish from the left back. Whoops.

It looks like Zidane might be preparing to bring on Brahim. There has been reports of late that the former Manchester City midfielder could be sold when the January window opens.

There's surely no way back for Espanyol now. In truth, they have offered little this afternoon. Real Madrid have been able to coast their way to all three points. Quite poor from the visitors.

GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAL! Real Madrid 2 (79 mins - Karim Benzema) Espanyol 0. And that should be that. The points are surely in the bag for Real Madrid. Benzema picked up the ball, played the pass for Valverde who played the return ball and the French striker fires first-time into the back of the Espanyol net.

Shot on target! The ball fell to Roca 20 yards out from goal, the Espanyol midfielder got his shot on target, but it was straight at Courtois and the Belgian goalkeeper makes the save.

PICTURE: Varane's goal remains the difference between the two teams.

Valverde is the latest Real Madrid player to enter the referee's book.

Real Madrid have the lead and have created the majority of the scoring opportunities, but they have to be careful here. The longer it stays 1-0 the edgier the Santiago Bernabeu is growing.