Real Madrid suffered a shocking 2-1 defeat in their first ever visit to the Catalan club side Girona on Sunday. The Liga minnows also made history for bringing an unexpected end to the Champions’ 13-game winning streak.
Los Blancos fell 8 points behind league leaders Barcelona at Estadi Montilivi despite Isco’s lucky tap from Cristiano Ronaldo‘s 12th minute effort at goal.
The match was Madrid’s first visit to Catalonia since the season began, and the second time Zinedine Zidane’s team would lose a match; it was also the first time a Catalan club side other than Barcelona would beat Madrid in the past 10 years. Espanyol was the last team to achieve the feat in 2007.
After hitting the post twice, the home side made great efforts until Uruguay international footballer Cristhian Stuani scored in the 54th minute. Portu also found the net to consolidate their victory in front of the 13,500 fans.
“We did well in the first half but football is about details and the first goal was from a throw in and we weren’t focused,” Zidane said during a post-match interview.
“I don’t think we played badly, we didn’t lack intensity or effort, we just lost focused at the most important moments and that’s why I‘m annoyed.
“We’re eight points behind but it won’t change anything, we can pick ourselves up, we’ll have better days than this and our rivals are going to drop points.”
Madrid player Isco said his side can’t continue with lack of concentration but warned critics not to write them off too soon.
“It was a very unusual game, given we were leading 1-0,” the 25-year-old midfielder said. “We had a moment of disconnection at the start of the second half and they turned [the game] around.
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“We tried it until the end, but it wasn’t to be. Ultimately, we’re dropping points that we didn’t expect to, but now we have a big match in London with regard to our Champions League group.
“Maybe we lacked a bit of attitude at the start of the second half. They found it very easy to come back in the match, but you can’t write us off yet as there’s still a lot of the League to go.”
Image: Isco
The Spain international and former Malaga player advised, “Concentration has to come out of you naturally. We have to be more motivated and mustn’t give our opponents a chance. When things go well and we win, it’s easy to say that we’re a unit, but now is when we really have to prove we’re a real team and that we can turn things around.
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“We have a very big responsibility between now and the end of the season. It’s clear that we can’t go on like this, we’re Madrid and we can’t drop points every two or three games, but don’t write us off yet because we’ve shown that Madrid always come back, and now we have a good chance.”
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