After such a performance by Real Madrid, the league can be closed
Anatoly Romanov February 10, 2024, 22:37 Moscow time
Girona was “killed” at the Santiago Bernabéu. Even playing without centre-backs.
The match between the leaders of the Spanish Championship did not live up to expectations in terms of intrigue – Real simply crushed Girona. The leader’s lead increased to five points. It seems that the conversation about the championship race can be ended.
But Real lost their four centre-backs before the game against Girona: Rúdiger and Nacho joined Alaba and Militao in the hospital. As a result, Los Blancos formed an absolutely incredible combination of right back Carvajal and defensive midfielder Tchuameni in the center of defense. It is curious that Carvajal played on his left. Either Carlo Ancelotti assumed that Tchuameni would be better at initiating attacks, or he simply did not want to have two undersized players in the same zone (Vázquez operated on the right). It was impossible to imagine a more successful combination of circumstances for the top scorer together with Bellingham: Examples from Dovbik! Especially considering that Courtois and his compatriot Lunin were in the white goal.
However, Real is Real: the team’s class remains the highest. The locals made up for the absence of several defenders with brilliant collective performances. Madrid gave the ball to the culés and, surprisingly, put their rival to sleep. And in attack, the whites once again demonstrated perfect execution. Vinicius Júnior opened the scoring with his first shot in the sixth minute. The Brazilian brilliantly decided the episode with a shot from outside the area, the ball bounced off the post and into the net.
Girona still had possession and territory, but it was sterile. The visitors did not put enough pressure on the center of the local defense. Only immediately after Real Madrid’s goal, Dovbik had a possible scoring chance, but the ball was blocked by Carvajal, who played intelligently. Before the break, Girona only missed one shot and scored just 0.07 goals in terms of xG.
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Real moved the ball brilliantly and took advantage of free spaces, and Vini destroyed Michel’s defense. In the 36th minute, the Brazilian found Bellingham in the other’s area with a magical pass from the left wing behind the centre-backs. Eric García lost the Englishman and the happy Santiago Bernabéu sang “Hey Jude” again. Bellingham scored his 15th goal of the La Liga season.
From the first minutes of the second half it seemed that Girona was capable of getting back into the game. Michel’s team, apparently, began to manage the ball better in the opposing half, placing emphasis on the left wing, where Savio began to make his way with his dribble. But the Catalan fire did not last long. Soon Real scored the third goal, which Vinicius scored again. The Brazilian once again turned his compatriot Couta into a doll, beating the right back very well and shooting at goal. Bellingham was in the right place at the right time, scoring a double and sending the ball into the net.
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And after an hour of the game, referee Juan Munuera was able to calmly blow the final whistle. Even though Real was left without Bellingham, who suffered a couple of injuries during the match and was substituted immediately after his goal, the whites scored the fourth. Another mistake by Couto turned into a counterattack by Ancelotti’s team – Rodrigo did everything himself. There has been a lot of talk about Couto’s possible transfer to a top-level club, but after such a performance the chances of a transfer will be much smaller. Tsygankov, seeing that the Brazilian was openly “swimming”, slapped him on the cheeks after missing the goal.
In fact, at this time any Girona player who was on the pitch at the Santiago Bernabéu needed a personal psychologist. Dovbik himself left the field in the 70th minute, finishing the game with only ten touches of the ball (three of them in the other’s area) and a single blocked shot. Michel’s team never shot on goal. Carvajal and Tchuameni felt like they were training. Either Girona is so burned, or there really is a cosmic difference in level between them and Real, but today the sensation of the league season was lost by knockout.
Furthermore, in added time, Joselu was able to score the fifth goal from a penalty. The 11 meter one brought it… poor Kouta! But at least here Girona was lucky: the bar saved them.
