Three talking points ahead of Girona vs Real Madrid | La Liga MD 14 | OneFootball

Real Madrid’s away tour continues this weekend as they travel to Estadi Montilivi to take on Girona on Sunday night.

Los Blancos head to the game provisionally displaced as league leaders by Barcelona, who won their game against Deportivo Alaves on Saturday evening. The pressure, needless to say, is now on them.

Having dropped points in their last two league games, the men in white will be keen to take all three points tomorrow, return to winning ways, and reclaim their position as league leaders.

Any misstep, however, will see them forfeit the lead to Barcelona – something that would be simply unacceptable given Real Madrid’s strong start to the season and El Clasico win which helped them create a sizeable lead not too long ago.

Madrid Universal brings you three talking points ahead of Girona vs Real Madrid.

No room to falter

The past month has not been Real Madrid’s best by any measure and has seen Xabi Alonso’s side slip from a position of dominance to their lowest point in the campaign so far.

Their downfall began at Anfield at the beginning of this month and then got worse when they only managed a goalless draw against Real Valladolid in their final game before the international break.

Returning from the hiatus, many expected them to turn up refreshed and raring to go but they again managed only a 2-2 draw against Elche away from home. Having dropped points in their last two league games, they do not have much scope to make any more errors.

After all, their slip-ups allowed Barcelona to get right back into the race and the Catalans are now marginally ahead of them, albeit having already played this matchday. A win tomorrow is a must.

A department refreshed

Militao and Rudiger are back. (Photo by Dan Mullan/Getty Images)

The past few games have been complicated affairs for Real Madrid given the lack of natural defenders being available for selection, forcing Xabi Alonso to venture into rather unconventional pairings to help the team tide through the period.

While Dean Huijsen did start for Los Blancos against Elche, the manager was without David Alaba, Antonio Rudiger, and Eder Militao through injury.

The Spaniard, however, also missed the team’s game against Olympiacos alongside the aforementioned three, leaving the manager with only Raul Asencio as the available natural centre-back option.

In that regard, there are developments ahead of tomorrow’s clash at Montilivi as Real Madrid’s defence will be relatively refreshed on the night.

Ahead of the game, Xabi Alonso confirmed that Antonio Rudiger and Eder Militao will return to the squad, handing the team a major boost. Unfortunately, however, Asencio’s participation remains in doubt after he contracted gastroenteritis.

It remains to be seen who the manager deploys at the back from the start, especially if Asencio is indeed unavailable. 

While Militao is also coming back from injury, he can start given his match rhythm but the same cannot be said about Rudiger who has been out of action for several months now.

The midfield puzzle

While Xabi Alonso is indeed spoilt for options in midfield, he is yet to find the golden partnership that brings the best out of the best players in the department.

After all, much of the season has passed with one player’s rise coinciding with another’s fall, and the tactical mismatch is one of the primary reasons for the same.

The plan at the beginning of the season was to count on Jude Bellingham as a central midfielder and Arda Guler as an attacking midfielder, and with the Englishman’s shoulder surgery, the latter got chances and impressed in that department.

Bellingham’s return, however, complicated matters in that respect especially because it soon forced Alonso to deploy him as an attacking midfielder. After all, he shines best behind the striker, but that takes Guler away from his best position.

For most of the season since his return, Bellingham has operated just behind the striker. The team’s latest game against Olympiacos which saw great control in the middle, however, saw the side adapt a different setup, one that again complicates matters.

Bellingham can indeed still operate right behind the duo of Kylian Mbappe and Vinicius in this new setup, but that takes Guler farther away from where he would like to play. Moreover, it drops Eduardo Camavinga from the XI and compromises the press.

Heading into tomorrow’s game, Alonso will look to experiment and take another step towards solving the seemingly unsolvable midfield puzzle. After all, there is a real need to identify the best setup ahead of the business end of the season.