Girona vs Real Madrid

La Liga title hopefuls Real Madrid seek redemption for a midweek fiasco as they head to Estadio Municipal de Montilivi to take on Girona. 

Girona’s notable form resurgence following a dreadful La Liga start took a minor blow last weekend as they drew 2-2 at Villarreal, surrendering a three-game winning league streak. However, a four-game unbeaten run has fired the Catalan outfit to eighth in the standings, only two points below sixth-placed Mallorca! Worryingly for manager Michel, his side slumped to an abysmal penalty shootout defeat to fourth-tier Logrones in midweek Copa del Rey action. The home comforts of the Municipal Stadium form the perfect backdrop for an immediate return to winning ways, considering ‘Los Blanquivermells’ have netted precisely four goals across their last two home league outings (W2). Girona’s evenly-balanced H2H home record against Real Madrid (W2, L2) inspires further confidence, with their most recent win in such a contest yielding a 4-2 scoreline.

Speaking of midweek upheaval, Kylian Mbappe’s second consecutive miss from the spot contributed to Real Madrid’s 2-1 league defeat at Athletic Bilbao, allowing Barcelona to re-establish a four-point cushion at La Liga’s summit. With a game in hand on their El Clasico counterparts, ‘Los Merengues’ remain firmly in the running for a record-extending 37th top-flight title despite suffering their first league defeat away from home since September 2023 (W13, D8). However, the last time Carlo Ancelotti’s team lost back-to-back league matches on the road was in April 2023, though one of the defeats in that run came on this ground! Connoisseurs of action-packed football cannot expect a flurry of goals before halftime, with none of Real Madrid’s seven away league games this season producing over 1.5 first-half goals.