Girona
clings to the victories against
Real Madrid
, such as the 1-2 in 2019 at the
Santiago Bernabéu
or the 4-2 last April, to aspire to victory in this Saturday's match on Madrid soil and take
over
from the leadership of
the Spanish LaLiga
, now two points away.
The meeting will start at 2:30 p.m. (Argentine time) and will be broadcast by DSports.
The Catalan team will miss the suspended
Míchel Sánchez
,
Daley Blind
and
Yangel Herrera
, but will visit Madrid convinced that it is possible to win.
Because he has done it
three times in the seven previous duels
between both clubs in the domestic competition.
They won the first and fourth direct duels, in 2017 at Montilivi and in 2019 at the Bernabéu, 2-1 in both cases and with an identical script: goal from Uruguayan Cristhian Stuani
to
equal Madrid's initial goal and goals from
Portu
to turn the result around and achieve two historic victories, with
Pablo Machín
and
Eusebio Sacristán
as coaches respectively.
Stuani is the top scorer in the duels between the two teams with
Karim Benzema
(5), just ahead of
Cristiano Ronaldo
and the Argentine
Taty Castellanos
.
This last player, now in the ranks of
Lazio
, was the main protagonist of the match last April, with a poker that entered the history books of Spanish football, since Madrid did not receive four goals from the same footballer in the same league match since December 1947.
The Argentine Valentín Castellanos, the night of his four goals against Real Madrid.
Photo: REUTERS / Albert Gea.
That victory meant that Girona opened this season with a positive record against Real Madrid, something extraordinary in LaLiga: three wins, a draw (1-1, last season in the first round) and two defeats (6-3 and 1 -4 in 2018).
But the white team equalized the record with the victory of the first round.
On September 30, Madrid won 0-3 as a visitor with goals from
Joselu Mato
,
Aurélien Tchouaméni
and Jude
Bellingham
, in a match in which Girona had two clear chances to take the lead in the first minutes (Viktor Tsygankov and Yangel Herrera) and in which he claimed a very clear penalty due to a handball by Bellingham with 0-0.
New scandal for Florentino Pérez's Real Madrid with the VAR.
Bellingham's hand against Girona, leader of the League: "It is true that that arm... is there covering a bit of a space."
Tremendous.
pic.twitter.com/hUgm94y2a3
— Fonsi Loaiza (@FonsiLoaiza) January 31, 2024
It remains the only league defeat for Míchel's team, which since then has gone 15 games without defeat.
The red and whites have 17 wins, five draws and one defeat, and this afternoon they will take to the Bernabéu pitch with the desire to take the lead.
The club's big goal is to qualify for the next edition of the Champions League, but the fans want to continue dreaming about LaLiga.
The precedents against Real Madrid support his fantasies.
Source: EFE