Spanish Fairytale in Top Two Clash A

Girona vs Real Madrid

While not inconceivable, if you had said at the start of the season that this match on the final day of September would be a clash between the top two in La Liga, few would have believed you.

Yet here we are in North Catalonia with Girona, the league leaders and top scorers in the division, hosting the mighty Real Madrid at Montilivi, a ground that holds only 14,624, some of them on scaffolding stands.

Talk about a twist on that classic match between the capital’s giants and Catalonia’s best team.

Talking Points

That the sides immediately below Girona are Real, Barcelona and Athletic Bilbao, shows exactly what Girona are achieving.

Between them, they have 279 top-flight seasons; Girona have three.

A city of 97,586 people, overshadowed by Barcelona 99 kilometres down the road, and a club which sold a number of its best players this summer, including Oriol Romeu (to Barcelona), top scorer Taty Castellanos (who enjoyed this match last term), their best winger Rodrigo Riquelme and centre-back, Santi Bueno.

All of them played at least 33 of 38 league games last season. Six players have  since arrived, two on loan and one on a free transfer, for little more than €15 million, their salary limit set at €51.98m. Compare that to Madrid’s €727.45m. Just how are Girona creating such La Liga highlights?

Well for a start, after a successful campaign last time out, narrowly missing out on European football, the Catalan side have started off the season on fire, winning five and drawing one of their opening games

In midweek, they came from behind to defeat Villarreal with goals from Artem Dovbyk and Eric Garcia.

Meanwhile, Real Madrid bounced back from the Madrid derby defeat – when they were undone by some poor decisions but didn’t help themselves either – by defeating Las Palmas 2-0 at the Bernabeu.

Manager Carlo Ancelotti made significant changes but they had more than enough to see off the Canary Islanders with Brahim Diaz opening the scoring before Joselu added the second.

No doubt the likes of Jude Bellingham, among those rested on Wednesday, will return for the weekend.

If defeat to Atletico told us anything it is that, for all their talent, there is no Cristiano Ronaldo or Karim Benzema to call upon anymore and, in the absence of Vinicius Jr, there was little focal point at the head of the attack.

So, his appearance as a substitute in midweek will be welcome news.

At the other end, the news may not be so welcome.

David Alaba is likely to miss the clash after he came off with a muscle problem in the first half against Las Palmas, so Madristas will hope the knock suffered by Antonio Rudiger doesn’t keep him out too.

History

There have only been eight meetings in total between these sides, all since 2017 with six in the league and two in the Copa del Rey.

Perhaps what will shock you is that Girona have tasted success on no fewer than three of them.

When they met in 2018, this SBOTOP observer described it as the champions of Europe – then 13-time winners of the European Cup – against a club whose stadium capacity is under 14,000 and had just completed its first ever season in the Spanish top flight in its 88 year history.

Yet even by then there had been a sensation with a victory, courtesy of goals from ex-Middlesbrough man Cristhian Stuani and Portu, which was arguably the most memorable moment in the club’s history.

They even had the temerity to score three times in the Bernabeu in the return fixture, albeit going down 6-3 on that occasion with Ronaldo helping himself to four of the goals.

Last season Girona gained two fine results.

A Stuani penalty earned a 1-1 draw in the Bernabeu last October after Vinicius had put Real ahead.

The return fixture in April was a moment Castellanos will never forget as he scored all four in a 4-2 success – a fine achievement as he became the first player in more than 75 years to score four goals in a La Liga game against Madrid – in December 1947, Esteban Echaverria netted five for Real Oviedo.

Betting Tip

Ancelotti’s men are available to back 1X2 @ 1.98 with the La Liga betting odds, while Girona are priced 1X2 @ 3.35.

With Asian Handicap odds, you can consider Real -0.50 @ 1.98 or Grona +0.50 @ 1.92.

If this is going to be a 4-2 home win again, then you will earn a tidy pay day of @ 120.00 with Correct Score.

For goals there is over 3.00 @ 2.08, Total Goal 0-1 @ 4.60 and 4-6 @ 2.83.

The 1X2 Draw @ 3.35 has tempted me but I am going to plump for Real to return to the summit by the odd goal and my *** prediction is Total Goal 2-3 @ 2.05.

 

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