Real Madrid pay price for rotation and relaxation against Girona

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Ben Hayward18 February 2019

This fixture always looked like a potential banana skin for Real Madrid. Girona were without a win in La Liga since November prior to their visit to the Santiago Bernabeu, but Los Blancos are rarely comfortable in early kick-offs and after meetings with Barcelona, Atletico and Ajax in the past 11 days, this was one they will have wanted out of the way.

All was well enough despite a subdued start as Casemiro headed home to give Santiago Solari's side the lead in the first half. One goal had been enough for Atletico to beat Rayo Vallecano on Saturday and also for Barcelona to defeat Valladolid. It should have sufficed for Madrid too, but it did not.

Los Blancos' second-half slumber gifted Girona a glorious chance which Aleix Garcia somehow blasted over the crossbar from close range. It was a warning, but one which was not heeded. The Catalans levelled with a penalty scored by Cristhian Stuani after Sergio Ramos had handled in the box. The defender was booked, but the rules dictate that he could and probably should have been sent off.

Later, he was, after an attempted overhead kick caught Girona defender Pedro Alcala in the face. By that time, Real were 2-1 down after Portu's goal put Girona in front and it could have been more as the visitors also rattled the woodwork at 1-1. Solari's side were well beaten in the end.

The Argentine coach gave short shrift to a question afterwards asking whether he would have picked a different team if he had the opportunity again. "That's an impossible question," he said. "We can't talk about hypothesis regarding something that has passed. You can always have done something differently, also when you win."

Maybe so. But Madrid's midfield was less fluid in the absence of Luka Modric, left out altogether, while the attack missed the verve of Vinicius Junior, brought on in the second half but erratic with his shooting, and Marcelo endured another difficult day in defence as he was brought in to replace the more solid Sergio Reguilon.

Rotation plus relaxation proved to be a deadly combination for Real and the defeat was described by Marca as "total disaster". After all the good work done in recent weeks to cut Barcelona's lead from 10 points to eight and then to six, almost all of that has now been undone as Solari's side find themselves nine behind now.

Girona's win was their first in La Liga since a 3-1 victory at Espanyol in November.
REUTERS

After a Clasico clash at Camp Nou in the Copa del Rey semi-final first leg on February 6th, a Madrid derby at Atletico last weekend and then a Champions League clash at Ajax on Wednesday, the timing for this Girona game was difficult, but as so often in La Liga in recent times, Real lacked the strength to get through a tough test.

"It's not just physical," Solari said. "It's mental too, concentration. The previous games may have taken their toll."

They certainly did and the changes contributed as well. And even though the Argentine insisted that his side will continue to fight on three fronts, there was the sense that after clawing back some of Barca's lead amid their recent resurgence, this latest loss has seen Real Madrid lose La Liga all over again.

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