Girona vs Real Madrid 01/02/19

01 February 2019

Real Madrid travel to the Estadio Municipal de Montilivi to take on Girona in the return leg of Copa del Rey quarter-finals carrying a 2-goal lead from the first game.

The Blanquivermells face a virtually impossible task of overcoming Los Blancos’ advantage after suffering a 4-2 defeat at the Estadio Santiago Bernabeu seven days ago. Winless in their last ten games across all competitions (D5, L5), the hosts have gone from five straight stalemates to three successive defeats. What’s more, the Gironistes have pulled off just one triumph in their last seven home clashes (W1, D5, L1), with six of those races producing under 2.5 goals. Girona backline that has conceded 12 games in the previous four competitive outings gives Eusebio Sacristan a sizeable headache, especially considering they’ve also failed to keep a clean sheet in 13 successive games. Another worrying fact for Sacristan is that his team conceded eight goals in two H2H meetings with Real Madrid this season – 16 in four games since joining the top flight.

On the other hand, the visitors continue to gather momentum having won three straight games across all competitions, scoring over 3.5 goals per match in two. The reigning European holders have won eight of last 11 competitive road clashes (W8, D1, L2), scoring over 1.5 goals in seven of those successes. Awakened after a turbulent period, Los Merengues attack has bagged over 1.5 goals per match in eight of the previous ten competitive meetings, failing to hit the net twice in the process though. But, Los Blancos’ defense has failed to live up to expectations lately, failing to keep a clean sheet in four successive road trips across all competitions. Still unable to fix his team’s defensive problems, Santiago Solari has witnessed his backline conceding in eight of their last ten competitive races.