Real Madrid bounced back from their loss in midweek and avoided back-to-back La Liga defeats for the first time since April 2023 with a 3-0 win at Girona, whose run of consecutive wins at Estadi Montilivi was ended at three.
Defeated on their two previous away trips in all competitions, Real showed little sign of fixing their troubles on the road early on, as a 30-yard effort from Antonio Rudiger which sailed over was their only shot in the opening quarter of the match. However, despite plenty of good build-up play, the hosts were unable to take advantage and test Thibaut Courtois.
The Belgian stopper perhaps should have been worked on the half-hour mark when Yaser Asprilla slipped a delightful pass through to Donny van de Beek, but his powerful strike went a whisker over the bar.
That spurred Los Blancos into life, and after a thunderous Brahim Diaz effort from 20 yards summoned an impressive stop from Paulo Gazzaniga, the visitors took the lead with 10 minutes of the half to go.
An awful Arnau Martinez clearance was pounced upon by Jude Bellingham, who smashed the ball throughthe crowd and the legs of Gazzaniga for his fifth of the season.
Having stamped their authority on the game, Real Madrid looked to open up some breathing space early in the second half, which would have arrived after seven minutes if it wasn’t for a superb Gazzaniga save to deny Aurelien Tchouameni’s header following a Luka Modric free-kick.
But the European champions weren’t made to wait much longer, as three minutes later, Bellingham’s ball from the halfway line sent Arda Guler through on goal, and the Turkish youngster held off the defender and steered home his first of the campaign.
Real Madrid had scored four in each of their previous two home matches, and they would have to do the same just after the hour mark if they were to maintain their winning run, after Modric found Kylian Mbappe inside the box, and from a tight angle, the Frenchman powered the ball past Gazzaniga for Real’s third.
The closest Míchel’s side came to any kind of comeback were a handful of efforts on target from Asprilla and Arnaut Danjuma, as their winless run extended to four. Meanwhile, the win takes Real Madrid to within two points of Barcelona, with a game in hand, though injuries to Bellingham and Ferland Mendy were causes for concern.
