Real Madrid vs Girona 17/02/19

17 February 2019

After a vital 2-1 away win over Ajax in the Champions League, Real Madrid take on Girona in La Liga as the title contenders go head-to-head with the relegation battlers at the Estadio Santiago Bernabeu.

Unexpectedly, Los Merengues have returned to the La Liga title race after their arch-rivals Barcelona played out two consecutive draws. Los Blancos continue to gather momentum having won five consecutive LL games, scoring 2+ match goals in each. What’s more, the reigning European champions have racked up a four-game home winning run across all competitions, scoring 12 goals while conceding just two in the process. No Spanish team has conceded fewer goals at home than Real Madrid (5), with Real keeping eight clean slates in 11 home outings this term. Another promising fact for Santiago Solari is that his men comfortably outplayed Girona in two of their previous H2H clashes at this venue, bagging over 3.5 goals in each although conceding five goals during the run.

As for the visitors, they are frantically trying to bring a disastrous six-game losing streak across all competitions to an end and also wrap up the first three points in La Liga since late November. Winless in their last 13 competitive games (D5, L8), the Blanquivermells are sitting just one point above the relegation zone. Girona’s enormous defensive flaws have seen them concede 2+ match goals in all four of their previous La Liga clashes. Not only the Gironistes struggled to pick up a victory on their last seven road trips across the competitions (D2, L5), but they have allowed over 1.5 goals per match six times in that period. Moreover, Eusebio Sacristan’s players have failed to hit the back of the net in their last three LL outings, as they remain the second joint-worst attack in the Spanish top tier.