2024-01-04 03:58:25
Madrid (AFP)
The exciting chase continued between Real Madrid and Girona at the top of the Spanish Football League, with the former’s difficult victory over its guest, Mallorca, 1-0, while the latter’s match with its guest, “third,” Atletico Madrid, ended with an exciting 4-3 victory in the last breath of the nineteenth stage.
Real Madrid and Girona, the surprise of the current season, raised their score to 48 points, while Atletico Madrid’s score remained 38 points.
Real Madrid witnessed the return of its Brazilian winger Vinicius Junior, after recovering from an injury that kept him out in the last weeks of last year, specifically since November 11.
In the absence of more than one defenseman, most notably Austrian David Alaba and Brazilian Eder Militao due to injury, in addition to the suspension of defender Nacho, Real Madrid’s Italian coach Carlo Ancelotti, who renewed his contract with the Royal Club until 2026, decided to include French midfielder Aurélien Chouamini in the position. Center back, alongside German Tony Rudiger.
Zincellotti said after the match, “We lacked some vitality and accuracy in the final third, but we won thanks to executing a free kick in a wonderful way, and we played against a very defensively organized team.”
12 minutes before the end of the match, Real Madrid scored the only goal of the match, when Rudiger headed the ball from a corner kick raised by Modric, out of the reach of the Serbian goalkeeper, who stood by and watched it land in the roof of the net.
Rudiger said: “I scored a goal last season against Mallorca, and this year as well. I am happy because it was an important goal that gave us three valuable points.”
Madrid needed a stoppage-time goal scored by Lucas Vazquez to defeat Alaves by a single goal in its last match at the end of 2023.
Real Madrid maintained its record unbeaten in its last 18 matches in various competitions.
In the second match at Montilivi Stadium, Girona, which led 3-1 in the score, snatched an exciting victory over Atletico Madrid 4-3 in the last breath.
Girona took an early lead through Valery Fernandez, two minutes later, with a shot from outside the area.
But Alvaro Morata responded with the equalizer, taking advantage of a pass from Frenchman Antoine Griezmann (14).
The hosts responded with two quick goals from Brazilian Savinho (26) and Dutch veteran Danny Blind (39), and Morata reduced the gap again one minute before the end of the first half. Morata thought he had equalized in stoppage time of this half, but his goal was disallowed, and then Morata succeeded. They actually equalized in the 54th minute, and the tie remained “the master of the situation,” until the first minute of stoppage time, when Ivan Martin scored the winning goal for Girona with a shot that hit the roof of Atletico Madrid’s net.
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