As spring progresses, that enchantment invoked by Arbeloa, Real Madrid looks less like happy springs. When the last push was expected to push Barcelona to the end in the League, Madrid deflated in Mallorca and continued to lose gas, equally disoriented and failing even more against Girona, who took a draw at the Bernabéu that leaves Barça the possibility of being nine points ahead in the League this afternoon if they beat Espanyol at home with only seven games left. The drop in tension takes them away from the title and brings them a little closer to the precipice of another blank course. Either overcome Bayern in Munich on Wednesday in the second leg of the Champions League quarterfinals, or nothing. But while they advance into that abyss, neither against Girona, nor with their fans, who once again said goodbye to them angrily, heading for that improbable mission in Germany.
1
Andrii Lunin, Éder Militão (Dean Huijsen, min. 63), Fran García (Ferland Mendy, min. 78), Raúl Asencio, Dani Carvajal, Jude Bellingham (Arda Güler, min. 63), Brahim Díaz (Gonzalo García, min. 83), Federico Valverde, Eduardo Camavinga (Aurélinga) Tchouaméni, 78 minutes), Vinícius Júnior and Kylian Mbappé.
1
Paulo Gazzaniga, Vitor Reis, Alejandro Francés, Alex Moreno, Arnau Martínez, Axel Witsel, Azzedine Ounahi (Bryan Gil, min. 69), Iván Martín (Fran Beltrán, min. 83), Thomas Lemar (Hugo Rincón, min. 69), Viktor Tsygankov y Claudio Echeverri (Abel Ruiz, min. 63)
Goals
1-0 min. 50: Valverde. 1-1 min. 61: Lemar
Referee Javier Alberola Rojas
yellow cards
Mbappé (min. 34), Valverde (min. 75), Hugo Rincón (min. 87)
The most accurate interpretation of what happened fell from the stands at the end of the first act with a reluctance in tune with Real’s progressive decline. Also in keeping with how it had died out before the break. Gazzaniga wasted the added minute, standing over the ball, while Brahim motioned for Vinicius to come closer and force him to grab it. But the Brazilian also had plenty of time. He didn’t move and the game remained stuck there for a few more seconds, in the void. Then Brahim accelerated, the goalkeeper caught the ball, prepared to serve and the referee, also bored, sent them to the locker room. The stands let out a languid whistle, as if they were running out of air when it began to blow.
The moment is disconcerting. Madrid had the League very far away, but not so far away as to let themselves go. The return against Bayern is much closer, although not so close as to trust everything to that improbable feat. And there he moved against Girona, in that limbo of going or not going, on a night that seemed like tests in the center of the field, where Arbeloa knows that he will not have Tchouameni when he leaves for the Allianz. He brought together Camavinga and Bellingham, and the test added another spoonful of provisionality after a brief initial shock. For a few minutes, Real made a certain effort to trap Girona, with a couple of runs by Mbappé and Vinicius chasing defenses.
From there, everything went downhill. Like the AVE when it is 30 kilometers from a station, which starts to slow down and at first it doesn’t seem like it. This is how the game went. The ball was slower, the players moved less and only Brahim maintained the courage and creative enthusiasm of a world of his own. It vibrated at another frequency. The ball came alive when I was with him. It gave the impression that something could happen. Although that something was diluted in inaccuracies.
Girona observed the collapse very close, also calm, ready to leave and cross without too many difficulties through the center, where the Strait of Camavinga and Bellingham did not close. At the end of the road, Ounahi and Echeverri found shots without too much pressure.
After seeing Arbeloa in the locker room, Madrid woke up a little. Bellingham joined Brahim’s agitation and they met several times in the area. But everything dissolved into imprecision. It was a blunt piece of equipment that was fraying. Until Valverde, once again, loaded his right leg from 20 meters and hit the net to the astonishment of Gazzaniga, who had extended his hands convinced that the ball was going to fall to him. What didn’t come out of the game, came out of a whiplash. On the other side, Lemar reached a place similar to that of the Uruguayan, he released his left foot and tied without needing as much dedication as Madrid, who still had no luck while another game was going away.
A final charge was expected, but that Madrid is no longer there. He got tangled up and headed to the final and definitive test in Munich, the only one now, with the reproach of the Bernabéu.
