February (THEWILL) – Real Madrid extended their La Liga lead to five points on Saturday, with an emphatic 4-0 home victory over Girona. The reigning Spanish champions were led by a brace from England midfielder Jude Bellingham, both set up by Brazilian winger Vinicius Junior, who opened the scoring himself after just six minutes.
Bellingham doubled Real’s advantage on 35 minutes, rounding the keeper following another assist from Vinicius. The Brazilian was provider again for the Englishman to tap home his second on 54 minutes after his initial shot was parried by Girona keeper Paulo Gazzaniga. Substitute Rodrygo added gloss to the scoreline on 65 minutes with an excellent individual goal to put the result beyond doubt.
It was a comfortable evening for Carlo Ancelotti’s men, who bounced back from recent injury troubles in defence to keep another clean sheet. Girona offered little attacking threat until the second half and were unable to stop waves of Madrid pressure led by the creativity of Toni Kroos.
The only blemish for the home side came in stoppage time as Joselu struck the post with a penalty after Yan Couto fouled Arda Guler in the box. Yet, it mattered little as Real cruised to a statement victory to pull further clear atop La Liga as they chase another domestic crown.
Girona remain second in the standings despite the heavy defeat. However, manager Michel will know his side must improve greatly to continue their title push in what has so far been an impressive top flight campaign.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
