Real Madrid has achieved a potentially crucial victory in the battle for the Spanish league title. The list leader expected a tough match against closest pursuer Girona on paper, but made short work of the Catalan competitor: 4-0. Jude Bellingham was once again of great value with two goals, while Vinícius Júnior also made a huge contribution with a goal and two assists. Real Madrid is now five points ahead of Girona. The lead over FC Barcelona and Atlético Madrid, who both still have a game in hand, is eleven and thirteen points respectively.

On the Real Madrid side, coach Carlo Ancelotti has some personnel concerns at the back. For example, it was announced on Saturday that Antonio Rüdiger will be sidelined for the foreseeable future with a thigh injury. The German joins David Alaba, Nacho Fernández, Éder Militão and goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois in the squad. The defense against Girona consisted of Lucas Vázquez, Aurélien Tchouaméni, Dani Carvajal and Ferland Mendy. Rodrygo was preferred to Joselu at the front.

The suspended Daley Blind and Yangel Herrera were missing from Girona's side. They received crucial late yellow cards in the previous match, against Real Sociedad (0-0). In addition, coach Míchel was also suspended. A big stroke of luck was the return of Artem Dovbyk, who had to watch injured against Sociedad. Sávio, ex-PSV, also kicked off.

The match was less than seven minutes old when Real took the lead. Vinícius Júnior received the ball on the left and cut inside. The Brazilian was given the time and space to take a swing and that turned out to be a bad move by Girona. Vinícius curled the ball wonderfully into the far corner and gave Real a great start.

Real was the dominant party and also created the space to continue to create dangerous attacks. A deep ball ended up with Rodrygo, who did not keep an overview and overlooked the outlaw Bellingham at the far post. However, Girona had no answer to Real's play. From a subsequent counter, Eduardo Camavinga was knocked down on the edge of sixteen, which gave Real a free kick.

Ten minutes before half-time, Real beautifully made it 2-0. Vinícius sent Bellingham deep with the outside right and saw that the Englishman Eric García was too quick. Bellingham then also played around Paulo Gazzaniga, who watched as the 2-0 became an irreversible fact. It was Bellingham's fifteenth league goal of the season. Real continued to attack, although the pace was just too slow to really break the Catalans.

Girona was simply a size or two too small for Real Madrid, which ended the game less than ten minutes after the break. Vinícius Júnior brilliantly got rid of his opponent, only to encounter Gazzaniga. The goalkeeper had to give everything to turn the wing attacker's effort and had no chance when Bellingham scored: 3-0. Shortly afterwards he was brought in for Brahim Díaz.

The substitute saw Rodrygo make it 4-0 moments later, by taking the ball from Yan Couto and then hitting the target after a nice dribble. The match was over and this was also reflected in the tempo, which became increasingly lower. Girona wanted to limit the damage, while Real conserved their energy. This was evident, among other things, from a weak attempt by Fran García, who shot unnecessarily from a difficult angle. Brahim Díaz shot just over a few minutes later.

Just before the end, Real Madrid had the opportunity to score another goal from the spot. The unlucky Couto committed a foul on substitute Arda Güler, who seemed to want to shoot the ball himself. However, Joselu demanded the ball and shot the penalty against the post, after which the referee immediately blew the whistle.

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