Ancelotti Identifies Girona as Madrid’s Current Biggest Rival

Carlo Ancelotti has identified high-flying Girona as Real Madrid’s current biggest competitor after the Spaniard giants trounced Villarreal 4-1 yesterday.

Jude Bellingham, Rodrygo Goes, Brahim Diaz and Luka Modric were all on the scoresheet in the Los Blancos final fixture of 2023 at the Bernabéu yesterday, as they went top of the La Liga table—one point above Girona who have a game in hand.

Real Madrid cruise towards a 𝙍𝙊𝙔𝘼𝙇 victory 👑🫲🫱 pic.twitter.com/BBuqZZSzpC

— 433 (@433) December 17, 2023

“Girona is our biggest rival at this point. The La Liga season is very long and it will be hard fought until the end, with Barcelona and Atlético too,” Ancelloti said.

The 64-year-old added on his side’s performance on the night: “It was a complete performance by the whole team and there was an extraordinary level of collective commitment on display.

“The individual moments of brilliance were key, like Modrić’s pass to Bellingham. The latter just keeps on scoring, there was a goal for Rodrygo to and of course, Brahim’s wonderful individual goal. He put the icing on the cake of a superb defensive performance.

“This isn’t a statement. We’re doing a good job and today was one of our best games, particularly in terms of our defensive press.

“We started the season in a diamond shape, with the wings a little deserted. We’ve changed it up now and the press was incredible today. We put Luka on the centre-back and Lucas Vázquez took the full-back. 

“When you press high, the game has a great edge to it. That suits us without the ball and against teams who are strong on the ball like Villarreal. Our opponents were never comfortable on the ball today and my team deserves the credit for that.”

Madrid’s next match will be against Alaves on the 21st of December, while Girona will welcome the same team later tonight at the Estadio Municipal de Montilivi, in a bid to leapfrog Carlo Ancelotti’s side on the log.