After wins for Barcelona and Atletico Madrid on Saturday, Real Madrid have now responded 24 hours later to keep pace in the La Liga title race after picking up a comfortable 2-0 victory over Girona at the Santiago Bernabeu.
The opening 40 minutes were tough for Real Madrid as they struggled to break down a resilient Girona side, who came into the encounter with four defeats in their last five matches in La Liga – although they did not look short on confidence. However, they were broken down in the final stages of the opening period, and in some style too as Luka Modric fired home an unstoppable volley from the edge of the box that left Paulo Gazzaniga with no chance.
The second half saw a much better performance from Real Madrid, but again, they struggled to find that elusive second goal. The likes of Kylian Mbappe and Vinicius had chances, but a combination of poor finishing, good goalkeeping and colossal defending from Girona centre-back Ladislav Krejci meant that it stayed 1-0 until the 83rd minute.
It was at this point that Real Madrid finally made the points safe. Mbappe and Vinicius combined well for the former to play through the latter, and his rushed finish caught Gazzaniga off guard, and the ball trickled into the back of the net to make it 2-0.
Mbappe had another big chance to continue his scoring form in stoppage time after great play from Endrick Felipe, but he was again denied by Gazzaniga. However, it mattered little as there were no more goals before full time.
It was a successful afternoon for Real Madrid. They were delighted to see David Alaba come through his first start in 14 months unscathed, and they can now look forward to Wednesday’s Copa del Rey semi-final first leg against Real Sociedad.
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