Three talking points ahead of Real Madrid vs Girona | La Liga | OneFootball

From their incredible run competing neck-to-neck with Real Madrid last season to now being in 11th place in La Liga, Girona have seen a significant fall.

While Michel’s men have not been exceedingly poor, they have also not been anywhere close to the threat they were last season and their results speak volumes.

After 24 games in the league, the Catalan club has only won nine matches and have suffered 11 defeats in the process. Notably, however, they are just four points behind sixth placed Rayo Vallecano.

Later tonight, Girona visit Real Madrid at the Santiago Bernabeu on matchday 25 of La Liga and it is clear that there is a lot riding on the result of the match.

After all, both Barcelona and Atletico Madrid won their games this weekend and the pressure is on Los Blancos to win and keep up in the race.

Madrid Universal brings you three talking points ahead of Real Madrid vs Girona.

Stop the bleeding

Real Madrid have the momentum. (Photo by Angel Martinez/Getty Images)

Real Madrid’s record in recent weeks has been impressive, to say the least, especially considering the dominating manner in which they put away Manchester City in the UEFA Champions League.

Their story in La Liga, however, has not been as encouraging and it is safe to say that they are in their worst slump in form in the league.

A lot has been said about the refereeing shortcomings and how it has proven costly in Real Madrid’s charge toward a title defense. The fact, remains, however, that they were not games intended to be that tight in the first place.

Los Blancos’ slump began with a tame defeat away at Espanyol after Carlos Romero scored a late winner for the Catalans. They then went on to take just one point against Atletico Madrid in the Madrid derby, dropping two further points.

Most recently, the men in white once again dropped points against Osasuna, making it seven points dropped off the last nine available and thus squandered their entire lead at the top.

After their win over Las Palmas this match-day, Barcelona are now provisionally three points ahead of the men in white and a lot hangs on the result Real Madrid can pull out later today.

It is high time Carlo Ancelotti’s side stopped the bleeding against Girona, for a defeat will put them a whole three points behind Barcelona and directly into third place. More importantly, dropping points in a fourth straight game would be disastrous.

Main man missing

Jude Bellingham will miss tonight’s game. (Photo by Juan Manuel Serrano Arce/Getty Images)

Real Madrid’s meeting with Osasuna last weekend was marred with controversy, especially around the incident involving Jude Bellingham’s sending-off.

The Englishman, after all, was shown a straight red card last weekend after the referee misheard him saying ‘f*ck you’ and took it as a personal insult.

While Real Madrid and the player insisted that he said ‘f*ck off’ which is not a personally targeted phrase, they could not prove it to the committee and the player’s two-game ban has been maintained.

Tonight will be the first of the English midfielder’s games out and it will thus be on Ancelotti’s priorities to ensure he finds the right replacement.

With the star attacking midfielder unavailable, the Italian tactician must choose from his remaining options to find the best tactical fit.

Given that Federico Valverde is likely to be rested for fitness reasons and that Dani Ceballos may be unavailable through injury, Luka Modric and Arda Guler are the two best-placed options to replace the former Golden Boy winner.

Defensive stability

Real Madrid need to find defensive stability. (Photo by Gonzalo Arroyo Moreno/Getty Images)

The past two weeks have been difficult for Real Madrid, especially from a defensive standpoint given that multiple regular starters have been unavailable through injury.

Antonio Rudiger’s return for the second leg against Manchester City came as the first big boost for the manager’s plans, but the right-back continued to be an area of concern as Federico Valverde covered for the missing Lucas Vazquez.

Later tonight, the Uruguayan star will likely be unavailable to play. However, Vazquez is back in the squad list and will be available to feature at right-back in what comes as a massive development for Los Blancos.

Having the services of Vazquez once more at right-back, Antonio Rudiger, David Alaba and Raul Asencio all available at center-back, the game against Girona will be the first in a long time where Los Blancos have sufficient resources in defense.

It will thus be interesting to see how the team operates with all players back featuring in their best positions. The stability at the back, after all, counts for a lot.