Just over 13 years on from his last game as Real Madrid manager, José Mourinho returned to Los Blancos with a victory.
The Portuguese manager had new signing Carlos Espí to thank, as the 21-year-old snatched a late winner after Alex Calatrava had cancelled out Jude Bellingham's early header.
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Mourinho's last game in his first stint as Madrid boss was a 4-2 win over Osasuna on June 1, 2013. To give you an indication of how long ago that was in football terms, the goalscorers for his side that day were Gonzalo Higuaín, Michael Essien, Karim Benzema and José Callejón.
The Portuguese manager is far from the only new face in the Spanish capital as Florentino Pérez looks to revamp a squad that has gone two seasons without a trophy.
Yan Diomande has arrived from RB Leipzig for what could end up being a club-record fee, while Marc Cucurella, Espí and Denzel Dumfries have all also joined.
This being Real Madrid, there have also been two notable additions on free transfers -- those of Bernardo Silva from Manchester City and Ibrahima Konaté from Liverpool.
Espí in particular impressed in preseason, scoring twice since his arrival from Levante in July.
Madrid won four out of their five friendlies, drawing 2-2 with Fiorentina in the other.
Espanyol, meanwhile, entered this game in high spirits thanks to a 3-0 victory over Levante, in which Roberto Fernández scored a brace and Englishman Tyrhys Dolan put the icing on the cake.