Match Preview

Real Madrid travel to the Montilivi in Catalunya to take on Girona in the second leg of the Copa del Rey quarter-final. Real confidently carry a 4-2 lead in the aggregate ahead of Thursday’s match.

Despite the 2 goal lead, there is still much work to be done to guarantee a win. Real have to be able to manage a good road performance if they want to move on to the next series of the Copa.

Real have been performing much better as of late, winning their last three matches across all competitions and their last five of six in total. Things are certainly looking a bit up for the club, and it can continue to improve if they take the aggregate win in Girona.

Injuries/Suspensions

Real Madrid are still missing a few players on their injury list. They will be without Vallejo and Navas and now Ramos, who has avoided major injury but will be rested for this match.

Girona will be without their share of several players as well, including: Johan Mojica, Aday, Carles Planas, and Patrick Roberts.

There are no suspensions for either side in this match.

Potential XIs

Real Madrid

Courtois; Carvajal, Varane, Nacho, Marcelo; Modric, Casemiro, Kroos; Bale, Vinicius, Benzema

The Ramos injury will likely see Nacho taking his starting spot. With both Carvajal and Varane suspended against Alaves over this coming weekend, they will likely start one last time to at least get playtime.

With Bale now back, he could get the start over Vazquez, considering he scored immediately after subbing on against Espanyol.

Girona

Iraizoz; Ramalho, Alcala, Juanpe, Muniesa, Garcia; Lozano, Granell, Luiz, Borja; Doumbia

Prediction

Real Madrid-Girona 3-1

This will be an interesting match, Real did play rather well against Girona after conceding the opening goal in the first leg at the Bernabéu. Losing Ramos in this match does hurt, considering the tear he has been on recently with scoring and how essential he was against Girona the first time around.

Real are going to have to score the initial goal here to get Girona nervous, especially with the away goal rule in their favor now. They can’t allow Girona to get back into this aggregate.

The club will look towards Benzema and Bale, if he starts, for providing the offense in this second leg. Benzema has been in great form as well, he put on quite possibly his best performance of the season against Espanyol. They’ll look to extend the lead with what’s hopefully another great outing.

We will see what happens on the other side of this one, hopefully Real can see the job out and either hold on to, or even better extend their lead into the semi-final.