After their defeat to Athletic Club last Wednesday, Real Madrid returned to winning ways in La Liga over the weekend as they got a convincing 3-0 victory over Girona at the Estadi Montilivi.
Several Merengue players stood out in this game, with Jude Bellingham the most noteworthy with his 1 goal and 1 assist. The English took his league goals tally to 5 with this goal and has now scored in the last 5 consecutive La Liga games.
He also had an assist to his name in this match, as Arda Guler latched on to his threaded passes through the Girona defence to take a touch and put the goal in the back of the net with a nice finish.
This must have been a memorable moment for the Turkish youngster, as this was his first goal for Real Madrid this season. Up to now, the Turk has played 17 matches in total for Los Blancos, 12 in La Liga, 4 in UEFA Champions League, and 1 in UEFA Super Cup. He started 5 of these games in La Liga and another in UCL.
But it was only last night that he got on the scoresheet as Guler has struggled to maintain the scoring touch that he displayed in the last few games of the last season. In most of the matches he has played this season, the Turk has struggled to showcase his talent and demand greater prominence in Carlo Ancelotti’s team.
But he has clearly shown improvement in some recent games, after having got the opportunities to do so in the absence of other players like Vinicius Junior and Rodrygo Goes. He was quite impressive in the match against Leganes, in which he got an assist to his name for setting up Federico Valverde from a free-kick.
He was also quite good in the game against Getafe, in which he came in the second half to replace Jude Bellingham after the Englishman suffered a physical problem.
Last night, he built on these good performances, and in addition to his goal, he was also a key part of the Real Madrid attacking line.
According to Sofascore, he got on the ball 72 times in this game, completed 51 of his 56 passes with a 91% success rate, provided 2 key passes, and completed all of his 5 attempted long balls. Similarly, his only shot on target resulted in a goal, and he also completed 2 of his 2 attempted dribbles.
Furthermore, the youngster also impressed with his willingness to contribute to the defensive side of things. He was quick to get back to his own half to help his team defend whenever Girona threatened the Real Madrid goal and had 2 clearances and 2 tackles to his name.
No doubt this was one of his best performances in a Real Madrid shirt this season, and hopefully he will continue to put in these performances to help his team going forward. But opportunities might get scarcer in the coming games as Vinicius Junior is expected to return for the game against Atalanta and Rodrygo Goes will also be available to Ancelotti for that game.
