Girona vs Real Madrid

Real Madrid’s stuttering La Liga title defense continues at the Estadio Municipal de Montilivi against mid-table Girona this midweek.

Girona’s faint hopes of landing a first-ever European qualification suffered a devastating blow at the weekend as Real Valladolid knocked them down from a four-match unbeaten run in La Liga (W2, D2), leaving them nine points adrift of seventh-placed Villarreal. A 1-0 loss at Valladolid maintained Girona’s penchants for low-scoring fixtures, with their last three outings now seeing one or both sides fail to score in matches garnering under 2.5 total goals. Madrid’s visit to Catalonia could change the narrative, considering Girona’s three previous competitive home meetings with ‘Los Blancos’ in the 21st century have featured 3+ goals, with both teams scoring on each occasion. Irrespective of goals total, after clocking five wins in seven home league outings in 2023 (L2), the ‘Blanquivermells’ may be gunning for an upset.

In the meantime, Real Madrid scored on either side of halftime to oust Celta Vigo 2-0 at home last weekend, making it four wins in a row across all competitions. However, Carlo Ancelotti’s men are unlikely to defend the La Liga title, no matter the result here, as they start this round a whopping 11 points below pacesetters Barcelona, with only eight games left. Nonetheless, ‘Los Merengues’ will be keen to defy their indifferent nine-game league record on hostile turf (W4, D1, L4). But Girona may not be the most desired opposition, considering they’ve only won two of their five La Liga H2Hs (D1, L2), drawing 1-1 in the reverse fixture at the Santiago Bernabeu. Against this backdrop, the visitors have won their last three competitive away matches by 2+ goals ‘to nil.’