Individual brilliance helped Real Madrid prevail over Girona yet again, comfortably by 0-3 at the Estadio Montilivi.
Rodrygo was ruled out of the match a few hours before the start and was replaced by youngster Daniel Yañez in the list. Plus, Raul Asencio started the game from the bench as Aurelien Tchouaméni partnered up with Antonio Rüdiger in defence.
Girona started off the match on a positive note, having a crack at Real Madrid’s defence by attacking Thibaut Courtois’ goal thrice during the first half-hour.
Real Madrid seemed a bit uneasy and took some time to get into the game. As they settled down, Brahim Díaz forced Paulo Gazzaniga to make the first save of the match, which was quite a brilliant one to say the least.
Just a couple of minutes later, another attack led by Real Madrid was thought to have been cleared by Miguel Gutierrez but his clearance only laid the ball down in an empty area of space for Jude Bellingham to exploit and score his fifth goal in five consecutive matches.
The first half, yet again, was not as convincing but nonetheless, Carlo Ancelotti’s side headed into the tunnel with a lead.
Aurelien Tchouaméni almost made it two after his head was saved from close range by Gazzaniga. But then, a well-laid pass from Jude Bellingham to Arda Güler led the Turk to score his first goal for Los Blancos this season.
Ancelotti’s men looked fairly comfortable in this half and that was seen by their attempts at goal and successful ones.
There were a couple of mistimed passes back to the Girona players which could have costed Real Madrid but perhaps it is not an easy job to get past Thibaut Courtois.
By this point, Luka Modric was having an outstanding match. The Croatian was all over the place and Girona did not seem to have an answer to the questions he asked. He weaved his magic for Kylian Mbappe to score from one of the tightest angles you’ll see on the football pitch.
Something unusual happened after the match ended though. Not an incident which takes place often enough. The Real Madrid captain underwent an anti-doping test and the rest of the squad had to wait for the test to be over.
It seems like even the medical team could not believe that a 39-year old can play like a young midfielder in his prime. Fair play to them.
Carlo Ancelotti talked about his decision to start Tchouameni as a centre-back and it was that youngster Raul Asencio was tired and needed some rest.
Jude Bellingham was substituted due to an apparent injury too but the Italian manager insisted that Jude was going to be fit for the Atalanta match.
The La Liga table is shaping up to be an exciting one with both Madrid sides having a game in hand and Atletico being a point behind Real.
It is expecting to be an exciting battle this seat with three sides gunning for the ultimate prize in Spanish football.
