Goals from Jude Bellingham, Arda Guler and Kylian Mbappe afforded Real Madrid a convincing 3-0 victory on their Saturday night trip to Girona.
The defending Spanish champions were outmuscled and outplayed while losing to Athletic Club in midweek, yet had the match of Girona at the Montilivi. Bellingham was particularly impressive, opening the scoring before creating Guler’s second.
Mbappe exorcised some of the many demons that have gathered in recent months with his well-taken strike, sealing a 3-0 win which leaves Madrid just two points adrift of league-leading Barcelona.
How the game unfolded
Carlo Ancelotti did not give in to the crisis talk which bubbles beneath the surface of every Real Madrid defeat. The wily Italian would only admit to being “mildly concerned” about a sequence of four losses in seven games.
Those gentle worries were somewhat soothed by a routine victory over an out-of-sorts Girona. Last season’s surprise package of La Liga have emphatically regressed this term after a record-shattering third-place finish. Despite their struggles, Girona forced Madrid onto the back foot in front of an engaged home crowd.
The hosts were responsible for four of the game’s first five shots, yet it was Madrid who took the lead. Luka Modric stole possession in the 36th minute, funnelling the ball into the path of Brahim Diaz, whose cross squirted to the top of the box. A reinvigorated Jude Bellingham was on hand to fire in, blasting the ball between two sets of open legs.
Madrid’s number five turned provider ten minutes into the second half, taming Luka Modric’s excellent pass before delivering a decent ball of his own. The underused Arda Guler capitalised upon a rare start by holding off Miguel Gutierrez to tuck his shot into the bottom corner.
On a night of more spurned chances, Mbappe ended the game with a goal. Scurrying onto a pass played by the timeless Modric, Madrid’s misfiring summer signing found his range shortly after the hour mark, blasting an accomplished finish beyond Paulo Gazzaniga. For a brief moment, that disconsolate figure in the grey kit resembled Ligue 1’s leading scorer for the previous six seasons.
Check out the Girona vs Real Madrid player ratings here.
After Bellingham scored twice against Girona in February, he found the net three times in his next 25 club appearances over the subsequent nine months. The England international took his tally to five in five with a clinical swipe on Saturday night.
This prolific burst is a consequence of luck as well as judgement – Bellingham’s five goals have come from seven shots – but his enduring endeavour has certainly been a factor behind the uptick in end product.
Just as in the defeat to Athletic, Bellingham did his best to cover every blade of grass at the Montilivi. The 21-year-old – yes, he is still only 21 – showed that he had a layer of creativity to balance his clinical edge, sliding an excellent through ball into the stride of Guler for the game’s decisive second goal.
The only disappointing aspect of Bellingham’s performance was that it ended with him limping off on the hour mark.
“Sooner or later,” Ancelotti wisely warned this week, “this spell will pass.”
Mbappe’s increasingly nightmarish time at Real Madrid threatened to spiral even further down a dark path during the opening hour of Saturday’s fixture. While there were no more penalties to miss, the Frenchman conspired to squander a glut of golden openings in open play.
When Mbappe broke clear of Girona’s backline in the first half, faced one-on-one with the goalkeeper and opened up his body to deliver a trademark Thierry Henry-esque finish, he shanked the ball wide of the post. The delayed flag felt like a punishment for the out-of-form forward.
However, Mbappe would not be deterred. The head-strong 25-year-old kept on darting behind the red and white shirts, stretching the stitching between Girona’s lines of midfield and defence even if he floundered in front of goal. One strike – which Gazzaniga perhaps should have saved – won’t convince all the doubters, but it will strengthen Mbappe’s steely resolve.
The world’s smallest violin would still be too big for every other La Liga side reflecting upon Real Madrid’s injury crisis, but Ancelotti’s team has been objectively riddled with misfortune.
While the likes of Eder Militao and Dani Carvajal are out for the season, David Alaba is still in the treatment room and Rodrygo was ruled out on the eve of Saturday’s game, Ancelotti was forced into two injury-related substitutions against Girona.
Bellingham was the first to limp off after a stellar hour. Left-back Ferland Mendy had been far less impressive, but also sheepishly ambled to the substitutes’ bench following consultation with the medical team. A wounded Real Madrid only have three days to recover for a daunting Champions League tie away to a royally in-form Atalanta.
Ancelotti warned pre-game: “We’re still in the fight in every competition.” That is very much the case, but it may not be if their games continue to be littered with injuries.
