Before Sunday’s match against Deportivo Alaves (4:15 p.m.), FC Barcelona was put against the wall by its most dangerous rivals. Real Madrid defeated Valencia at the Santiago Bernabeu 5-1, and Girona won away against Rayo Vallecano 2-1. This means that before their match, Barca is seven points behind Girona and five behind Real.
In the thirteenth round of La Liga, which was also the last one before the November break, Girona, first in the La Liga table, and Real Madrid, second in the table, played a day before FC Barcelona, whose home match against Deportivo Alaves was scheduled for Sunday. And Barca will play against the Basques under a lot of pressure, because their most dangerous rivals won their matches.
Brazilian samba at Santiago Bernabeu. Real Madrid defeated Valencia
Real Madrid on Saturday evening at the Santiago Bernabeu without, among others, injured Jude Bellingham defeated Valencia 5-1. These confrontations used to be La Liga classics, but now due to Valencia’s weaker performance in recent years, it is definitely different.
Real, the youngest team in La Liga (average age 23.7 years), started scoring points already in the 3rd minute of the game, when, after a good pass from Toni Kroos, a great shot from the air and from outside the penalty area by Dani Carvajal surprised Valencia goalkeeper Giorgi Mamardashvili.
Later, however, two Brazilians from Real Madrid took matters into their own hands – Vinicius Junior and Rodrygo. In the 42nd minute, Rodrygo assisted Vinicius Junior with a cross from the right side of the field, who directed the ball into the goal with his chest.
However, if during the break Valencia still believed in making up for the losses, at the beginning of the second half the “Royal” knocked these dreams out of their heads in just five minutes. First, Vinicius Junior scored the second goal with an excellent shot from outside the penalty area, and just a few dozen seconds later, Rodrygo took advantage of Mamardashvili’s disastrous mistake and after 50 minutes of play it was already 4-0.
These were not the last goals in the match, because in the 84th minute the double was completed by Rodrygo, who danced with the Valencia defender in the penalty area and confidently defeated Mamardashvili.
Three minutes later, the score was 5-1 by Hugo Duro, who confidently scored from Hugo Gonzalez’s cross from a few meters and deprived Andriy Lunin of a clean sheet in the match.
The sensational La Liga leader was very lucky but won for the fifth time in a row
The fifth victory in a row in La Liga and the sixth in all competitions was achieved by the sensational leader of the Spanish league – Girona, who defeated Rayo Vallecano away 2-1.
Interestingly, the Catalan team had to make up for losses again in their match. All because already in the 5th minute of the match, the duel with goalkeeper Paulo Gazzaniga was won by the best scorer of the Madrid team, Alvaro Garcia, for whom it was already the fourth goal this season.
A moment later, Oscar Trejo was looking for a goal to make it 2-0, but his shot was stopped by Gazzaniga. Even before Girona tied the score, Artem Dowbyk had a great chance, whose close-range backheel shot was stopped on the goal line by one of the defenders. Ivan Martin’s dangerous long-range shot was brilliantly defended by Stole Dimitrievski.
Girona equalized in the 42nd minute after the action of two Ukrainians. Dovbyk, who already has 7 goals and 5 assists this season, converted Viktor Tsygankov’s pass from the right wing with a ruthless shot from the center of the penalty area.
The second part of the match started with Rayo’s attacks, but they had a lot of bad luck. In the first ten minutes of the second half, Alfonso Espino’s header bounced off the post, Oscar Trejo’s long-range shot hit the crossbar, and Isi Palazon’s attempt was brilliantly deflected by Gazzaniga.
The guests from Catalonia turned out to be more effective, because when Dowbyk lost the duel with Dimitrievski in the 65th minute, Savinho got to the stray ball and scored the winning goal for Girona.
Later, there was less action on the pitch and Girona quite confidently brought its fifth consecutive win in the league until the referee’s final whistle.
The results of both matches mean that Girona is leading in the La Liga table with 34 points, Real Madrid is two points less, and FC Barcelona is already seven points behind the leader before its match against Alaves.
