La Liga Match Preview: Real Madrid Vs Girona

Written By Onyeka Daniel

Real Madrid will be up against Girona at the Santiago Bernabeu in a game of teams at opposite ends of the table as the Los Blancos are joint top with Barcelona, who won their game yesterday against Valencia to be level on point with their rival on 31 points but having played one more game than them.

For the home side, they will be looking to bounce back from their first defeat of the season after 17 games against Rb Leipzig in the UCL, a game that doesn’t have any real significance on their season, which was why their coach, Carlo Ancelotti wasn’t particularly worried, a far cry to the sentiments of their goalkeeper, Thibaut Courtois, who accused his teammates of going to sleep.

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Sleeping will be the last on the minds of their player for this game, especially as it oplffers them the chance to go three points clear at the top of the table and the fact that they’ve recovered almost all their missing players during the midweek loss and the rest given to other players will help fire them to a win.

But up against a Girona side that is looking to avoid relegation, it will be a hard game for the team from the Spanish capital. Girona have struggled on the road in the league this term with one draw and 4 losses, but as all four of those defeats were by a one-goal margin, they may count themselves slightly unlucky not to have picked up a few more points.

Style Of Play

With only the absence of Karim Benzema to deal with, Ancelotti is expected to go with his trusted 4-3-3 formation to help the team transition between turn overs of possession and attack quickly which is expected to be the theme for the better part of this game as the Los Blancos are expected to attack for much of the game while the away side will try to defend in their numbers while relying on counter attack to try and get something from this game.

For Girona coach, Michel, his biggest headache would be setting up his team in a way that reduces the amount of space given to.the Real Madrid forward in their own box and that would lead him to use the 5-3-2 formation even if he has also experimented with other formations during the season.

Recent Form

Real Madrid have 14 wins, 2 draws and just one loss in 17 competitive games that spread across the UEFA super cup, Spanish La Liga and the UCL. Girona have played 11 games this season and they’ve just 2 wins from them, losing 6 and drawing 3 to remain 19th on the Spanish LaLiga table.

Head To Head

Between the Spanish League and the Copa Del Rey, these two teams have faced each other only 6 times and Real Madrid have won 4 times while Girona have 2 wins, which is impressive as those wins were in the League.

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Players To Watch

Real Madrid will be looking to Vinicius Junior and Federico Valverde in the absence of Benzema while Girona will be banking on their strikers, Christian Stuani and Rodrigo Riquelme for goals with both of them on 3 goals each already.

Injuries And Suspensions

Benzema is yet to recover from his injuries and will be missing for this game while Girona will be without the likes of B. Garcia, Juanpe, I. Kebe and S. Said through injury.

Verdict

Real Madrid have enough will and firepower to get all three points, but expect Girona to put up a fight and don’t put it past them to get a goal here as they’ve scored at least a goal in their last 8 games so far (3-1).

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