Three stats from Real Madrid’s 1-1 draw with Girona

Girona made it two games in a row without defeat at the Estadio Santiago Bernabéu as they held Real Madrid to a 1-1 draw with some controversial refereeing seeing Rodrygo Goes’ late goal ruled out, while Marco Asensio was penalised for handball to give Cristhian Stuani the chance to score from the spot. That cancelled out Vinícius Júnior’s goal to ensure that it ended with a point apiece on Sunday evening.

Here are three stats from the game.

1: Fede Valverde’s first assist for Vinicius Júnior at the Bernabéu

With 25 goal involvements between them this season alone, it may come as a surprise to read that this is the first time that Fede Valverde has assisted a Vinicius Júnior goal at the Estadio Santiago Bernabéu. His ball across the face of the box into the path of Vini set him up to break the deadlock on 70 minutes, and also score in back-to-back games.

Of course, it’s not his first ever assist for the Brazilian, most recently in the 3-0 win over Celtic in Glasgow, and most famously in the only goal in the 2022 Champions League final win over Liverpool. It’s a connection which is growing ever stronger this season with the Uruguayan having more of a role to play in the final third with this new-found cutting edge.

Photo by Diego Souto/Quality Sport Images/Getty Images

In doing so, Valverde has also now registered more goals and assists than in the past two seasons combined. Building this connection could prove to be decisive in the next era of Real Madrid’s talent, with the two pairing up alongside Rodrygo Goes to build an attack that looks threatening.

43: Home games in a row against relegation zone teams without defeat

Real Madrid fans will feel disappointed to only take a point from a game against Girona given their standing in the table, given that they were 19th heading into this game. You can understand why when you know that Real Madrid are unbeaten in 43 games against teams kicking off their visit to the Bernabéu in the relegation zone.

This was, in fact, only the fourth draw during that run, while 39 games have ended with victory. That means that Real Madrid have taken 121 points from a possible 129, though Girona become the latest side to take points out of the hands of Real Madrid.

The last time a team in the relegation zone won in Chamartín was in 2007, when Levante’s Salva Ballesta scored the winner in a 1-0 win. Since then, the aura of the Bernabéu has been enough to prevent any further upsets. Girona may well have hoped that they could put that run to the test.

Photo by Denis Doyle/Getty Images

845: Matches since Toni Kroos’ last red card

Famed for his composure and temperament, Toni Kroos was the unexpected figure to see a red card for a second yellow card offence as the game ticked over into injury time against Girona.

It was his first red card in professional football, but not his first red card ever. If you tally up every appearance he has made, including in youth football, you’d have to go back 845 matches to 1st April, 2007, when he saw red against SC Freiburg after picking up two yellow cards. That was 60,111 minutes of action ago.

It’s a stat which shows the frustration of this result to even get into the head of a man as calm as Kroos. It was also the first red card for Real Madrid in LaLiga since April 2021, having gone a full season without a dismissal in 2021/22.