Real Madrid 4 Girona 0: Vinicius Jr and Jude Bellingham star in dominant display – The Briefing

Real Madrid moved five points clear at the top of La Liga as surprise title contenders Girona were thrashed 4-0 in a dominant display from Carlo Ancelotti’s side at the Santiago Bernabeu.

A spectacular strike from Vinicius Junior opened the scoring as Madrid took a sixth-minute lead, before the Brazilian provided a magical assist for Jude Bellingham to make it 2-0 just past the half-hour after rounding the goalkeeper.

It was Bellingham who got the third nine minutes after half-time, tapping in after Vinicius Jr’s shot was parried — with the Englishman replaced shortly afterwards. As Girona pressed forward they were left further exposed at the back and Rodrygo grabbed a fourth on the break with 29 minutes of the 90 to go, Vinicius Jr again with the assist.

Here, The Athletic’s Thom Harris, Dermot Corrigan and Pol Ballus go through the big talking points of a huge Madrid victory.

A Bernabeu education for Girona

Girona began positively, looking to take the initiative, and show they were up for a game so widely billed as a potential title decider.

Just five minutes in, Vinicius Jr showed them what competing at the top level was all about. There was no big sensation of danger when he cut in from the left wing, with four Girona defenders including right-back Yan Couto nearby. But nobody was close enough, and he only needed a split-second to fire off a shot that flew into the far corner.

From there, Vinicius Jr continued to put on a show, looking supremely confident and decisive in everything he did. This included working back into his own half, picking up possession and ensuring that Madrid took complete control of the game.

Vinicius Jr and Bellingham impressed for Madrid (Florencia Tan Jun/Getty Images)

With just over half an hour gone, Madrid’s No 7 again stamped his class on the occasion. His superb, outside-of-the-boot curved pass into the space behind Girona’s defence was perfectly weighted for Bellingham to race clear and round goalkeeper Paulo Gazzaniga to score.

Vinicius Jr knew he was performing in front of his new national-team coach Dorival Junior, who was making his first trip to the Bernabeu since being appointed last month. His marker Couto, a fellow young Brazilian, was enjoying the attention much less as, like many of his team-mates he could not find his usual game with the top-of-the-table pressure on.

Dermot Corrigan

Two of La Liga’s most effortlessly expansive deep-lying midfielders went head to head at the Bernabeu, but only one was able to dictate the game.

Both Madrid’s Toni Kroos (43 of 43) and Girona’s Aleix Garcia (48/48) maintained flawless passing accuracies in a decisive opening 45 minutes; the former typically pinpoint with his raking switches of play, the latter neat and tidy whenever he had an opportunity to get on the ball (although when he did he was almost always under severe pressure).

Kroos’ impressive passing was a key strength of Madrid’s display (David S Bustamante/Soccrates/Getty Images)

With the unrelenting physical profiles of Bellingham, Federico Valverde and Eduardo Camavinga up ahead, Kroos was routinely happy to drop into deeper areas, peel away from the pressure and receive the ball in yards of space. His long passes in behind adventurous full-back Miguel Gutierrez were a key feature of that dominant first half, while his three speared balls in the space of 20 seconds in the 47th minute only underlined his range.

Garcia, on the other hand, was largely crowded out in a lop-sided midfield battle. The more lightweight, attack-minded figures of Ivan Martin and Portu flanked Girona’s metronome, but could do little to help as the Madrid steamroller closed in.

Perhaps the suspended Yangel Herrera might have provided extra physical bite, but Girona were flattened by a quicker, stronger and more hungry midfield.

Thom Harris

Fearless? Or naive?

​​Girona were not really supposed to be here.

Being main actors in a decisive match in La Liga’s title race in mid-February would, even a year ago, have been a distant dream for a club who were playing in the fifth tier as recently as 1999, and struggling to pay their players. Their home crowds were as low as 200, as locals tended to follow the city’s basketball team rather than its footballers.

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But a succession of ownership changes, and a new fearless approach under current coach Michel, has brought them into direct competition with La Liga’s giants. After this, however, a big share of the Catalan team’s fans will regret how that fearless approach turned into a naive one at the Bernabeu, in what was the biggest occasion of their lives.

Girona manager Michel was suspended for Saturday’s match after his red card last weekend (Mateo Villalba/Getty Images)

Nobody expected Girona to change their approach, not even with Michel suspended and only able to watch from the stands.

They are the joint-highest-scoring team in La Liga (Madrid caught them with their four today) and it never tends to be a good idea to abruptly change from the philosophy that led you into shining like never before. But at the end, if this was the unofficial end of the title race, Madrid did not need to break much of a sweat to get themselves over the line.

Pol Ballus

So, is the title race over?

Ancelotti and his players had heard all week how Girona were challenging them for the title, and Madrid also had to deal with having all four of their senior centre-backs unavailable today.

Inside the Bernabeu though, once Vinicius Jr had put them ahead, there was never really any doubt who would win the game. And little doubt about who was going to claim this season’s La Liga crown.

Ancelotti’s Madrid are now five points clear (Jose Breton/Pics Action/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

Even in the first half, when in theory Girona were still in it, Madrid looked just so superior in every way; physically, technically, tactically and, most importantly, in their supreme confidence and certainty in what they were doing.

It did not seem to matter that they had a patched-up defence. They looked like a team used to playing in such crunch top-of-the-table encounters, with players such as Kroos, Vinicius Jr, Bellingham and Valverde enjoying the opportunity to show their champions’ quality and mentality.

Soon after Rodrygo ran from halfway to score the fourth on 61 minutes, the hardcore fans started to chant, “Asi gana Madrid!” (that’s how Madrid win) — a response to Girona’s supporters singing it last weekend, when they felt VAR calls were hurting their own title challenge. They also chanted, “Xavi, stay!” late on, enjoying the chance to get a dig at the outgoing manager of their struggling arch-rivals Barcelona.

Ancelotti’s team are now five points ahead of Girona, and 11 clear of third-placed Barca (who host second-bottom Granada on Sunday). There is still more than a third of the La Liga season left to play, but at the Bernabeu tonight, it felt already inconceivable that anybody else could win this title.

Dermot Corrigan

Bellingham back among the goals

Ronaldo. Ruud van Nistelrooy. Cristiano Ronaldo. Gareth Bale. Bellingham.

Those are the only players to score 15 La Liga goals in their debut seasons with Real Madrid.

Not only is the latest player to join that exclusive club just 20 years old, he’s not a forward but a midfielder — and an extremely busy one at that. Hauling himself off the pitch on 56 minutes just after making it 3-0, having already been down injured three times previously, this was another performance all about tenacity, high intensity and indefatigable spirit, capped off with two goals after trademark, box-crashing runs.

* Season not completed

There were murmurings of a mini drought in Madrid heading into this game after just one goal in eight appearances — as if a player who runs a midfield as relentlessly as Bellingham should be expected to keep up league-leading goalscoring pace — but the Englishman answered those questions anyway after another versatile performance.

The graphic below illustrates where Bellingham has received his passes across the last six La Liga outings.

From his advanced receiver role against Almeria, a deeper, tempo-setting midfielder at Getafe, to his wide positioning to support Vinicius Jr in the Madrid derby, Bellingham’s adaptability keeps the team fresh, and allows Ancelotti to tweak things on a game-by-game basis.

Against Girona, as the goals came flooding back, it was his ability to counter-press, and steal the ball high from unconvincing build-up, that set the tone for an aggressive, front-footed win.

Thom Harris

Couto’s night to forget

Last month, in an interview with Girona’s social media channels, right-back Couto was asked which club he’d love to play for — besides his current one.

“Real Madrid, without a doubt,” he replied. Two weeks later, Madrid-based outlet Marca opened up its front page reporting that the 21-year-old, who already has two senior caps for Brazil, was indeed being monitored at the Santiago Bernabeu.

If this game was an audition, however, we can hardly say Couto aced it.

He was absolutely outclassed by countryman Vinicius Jr, who operated again as an out-and-out left winger in a match-winning move from Ancelotti. Madrid’s star tore his marker apart, exposing him for all four goals.

Couto was at fault for each of Madrid’s goals (Jose Breton/Pics Action/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

Couto lost possession in the moves that led to Madrid’s first and fourth of the night. On the second, he allowed Vinicius Jr space to turn, have a think about what to do and launch an outstanding pass to scorer Bellingham. For Madrid’s third, Vinicius Jr also toyed with him, just before giving Bellingham his second goal of the night.

He also gave away a penalty, through a foul on Arda Guler in second-half stoppage time at the end, which Joselu missed, gave away possession 11 times, got dribbled past on six occasions and lost seven out of 12 ground duels.

Couto was not the sole reason why Girona were beaten today. Other upcoming talents, such as Savio and Artem Dovbyk, also failed to make an impact and fell short of the high standards they have set throughout the season.

But this was certainly a reminder for him of how tough life can be against the very best.

Pol Ballus

What next for Madrid?

Tuesday, February 13: RB Leipzig (A), Champions League, 8pm GMT, 3pm ET

Madrid’s bid for their record-extending 15th European title resumes with this round of 16 first leg in Germany. Leipzig did well in the group phase, winning every game that wasn’t against Manchester City and troubling the champions home and away before losing 3-1 (it was 1-1 with seven minutes to go) and 3-2 (they were leading midway through the second half). However, their domestic form since the season resumed last month after the Bundesliga’s winter break has not been great — just one win in five, including three defeats in a row. The second leg at the Bernabeu is on Wednesday, March 6.

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(Top photo: Angel Martinez/Getty Images)