Kroos is simply irreplaceable in this form, I’ll be afraid if he’s no longer there. Valverde cannot be left out of this starting eleven – what he does and works is unbelievable. Camavinga also had a great day today. I’m a big fan of his style of play and believe in his great potential, but every now and then he has huge lapses in his game, as well as a certain inconsistency. But today was great, almost Modric-esque!
Everything Vinicius did today was well done, today he was pure world class. Bellingham was able to prove its class again today; his feeling for free space is incredible, but the way he handles the ball is also absolutely insane. Rodrygo had a solid game, which he was able to crown with a nice goal – very important for his self-confidence! The three generally played very well together today, which is incredibly difficult to defend.
Basically, Ancelotti pulled Michel’s tooth today by having him defend with a 4-5-1 instead of a 4-4-2, whereby even if Vinicius and Rodrygo were not on the wings to defend, the three central midfielders were central stayed and condensed the game there. It was also interesting that the three midfielders in front of the back four were close to each other against the ball, while the AVs were a little further away from the IVs. This made it very easy to control Girona’s rail players/AVs. Real could actually have scored one or two more goals, Girona were well served with a 4-0 win today.
For the Catalans it is now a matter of not losing their composure. They have now lost against Mallorca in the cup, narrowly won 1-0 against Vigo, played 0-0 against Sociedad and have now received a slap from Real. It will be very difficult against Bilbao, they are currently in top form and have the second best defense in the league. You also play in the Basque Country; The San Mames is known to be a real cauldron – that will be a very difficult task! Hopefully by then Yan Couto, of whom I think highly, but who played a very weak game today, will have recovered the IV and the attack. A bit of a breath of fresh air came into the game today with Pablo Torre, Barcelona should try to incorporate this player into the team next season! But Miguel, Aleix Garcia and Ivan Martin can also do a lot more at the front than they showed today. Hopefully Dovbyk will be back to 100 percent by then, today he only played a whopping six passes; Tsygankov was also very passive.
Three points are needed in the next game, otherwise Girona could lose touch with the top in the next few weeks! On the other hand, this victory means little for Real Madrid if they don’t win against Rayo in the minor derby in Vallecas next week. A win for Real is not necessarily a mere formality, because even though their future opponents are currently not in good form, it is usually very unpleasant for Los Blancos to play away against Vallecano.