Solari not giving up on LaLiga title just yet

Santiago Solari was asked after the Girona loss Sunday afternoon if he is conceding the league to Barcelona.

“Absolutely not, we will continue fighting on the three fronts that are open.”

“This week there are games for our rivals in Europe and they have difficult games, all against sides like Girona that have shown to be very serious.”

“We have to keep going and get back to winning.”

Obviously, my prediction for Sunday was clearly off. Having beaten Girona three times already this season, in both the Copa del Rey and LaLiga, I thought for sure they would be able to pull off the win at home.

Nevertheless, they did lose and had their 8-match unbeaten streak broken. They did not look great at all and losses like this are putting their LaLiga hopes in jeopardy. Even when Barcelona doesn’t play great, they pull of ways to win and they are only increasing their lead in first.

Solari has been the type to maintain positivity this season. He shouldn’t concede, nothing is impossible of course, but Real’s chances are waning and getting more unlikely. They can still finish second more than realistically, just to get on over on Atlético this season after finishing behind them last season.

Solari gives brief assessment on Ramos’ red card against Girona

Sergio Ramos took another suspension over the weekend after he received a second yellow in the final minute of regulation time. Ramos and Alcala were challenging for the ball in the box when Ramos connected his overhead kick with Alcala’s jaw.

Santi Solari gave his very brief comments on Ramos’ sending off, which is now a record 20th time Ramos has been sent off in LaLiga.

“They are occupational hazards.”

Told you it was brief. Solari was not going to bash his captain here of course.

There’s not much to say, Ramos will miss the trip to face Levante this weekend. A bit reckless on his part, but unfortunate that Alcala was at the wrong place wrong time.

Ramos is also serving a suspension in the second leg of the Champions League Round of 16 against Ajax, also dependent on what UEFA rules on their investigation into whether Ramos purposely took a yellow.

It’s nothing new with Ramos, he’s a top class defender and fantastic with headers and penalties, but his one major flaw has always been that he fouls a lot and gets punished for it.

Odriozola

Alvaro Odriozola gave his post-match thoughts on Real Madrid’s 2-1 loss to Girona on Sunday.

“It’s a difficult time because we were in a very good dynamic and this puts the brakes on.”

“The match could have been won and in the end it’s lost, we have to do self-criticism and see where we’ve failed.”

“There is no need to make excuses. If Girona have taken the game, it is because they deserved it.”

“The first half was good, we could have led 2-0 and taken the match but we do not have to make excuses.”

Real did look better in the first half and did have some chances, but it was overall not a good game at all from them. The second half was what killed them, they looked completely disjointed in their play.

They made mistakes, mistakes led to goals and unfortunately also to the suspension of their captain. They need to bounce back this weekend against Levante on the road, especially when they blew their match against Girona at home.