There’s a new story in the media about Real Madrid every week, but I think Xabi Alonso is doing a decent job despite the noise surrounding his position and rumours of player power being a big factor at the club.

There aren’t many other clubs in the world where you’d attract this much criticism for being top of the league, but that’s what comes with the role of being Real Madrid boss. Real Madrid have won 10 of their 13 games in LaLiga this term, also boasting the best away record of any side with four wins from their seven away games.

Girona have really fallen off from the heights they managed to reach a few seasons ago with the club embroiled in a relegation battle last year, and a similar story is playing out so far in this campaign. Girona sit 18th in LaLiga and notably have only won two games all season. Both of these wins did come at home, offering promise for Girona but with only seven goals scored across these games, they are unlikely to harm Madrid too much.

Madrid bounced back from a disappointing draw against Elche last time out to run out 4-3 winners in the Champions League over Olympiakos. There’s still serious work to be done with Real Madrid defensively, but their serious attacking power and depth makes them a near unmatchable opponent in LaLiga.

Bryan Gil is committing the most fouls per 90 in the whole Girona squad, yet there are many players who foul significantly less, going off at much shorter prices. Gil felt like the obvious play here; he’s committing 2.3 fouls per 90. 

If Gil starts the game on the right hand side of midfield, it’ll improve the chances of a winner. This would more than likely put him up against Vinicius Junior, where he’ll be instructed to help with defending against the tricky wide man. Vinicius is currently drawing 2.70 fouls per 90, a very hefty number. 

There’s still the possibility that Gil could start the game on the left hand side and be up against Rodrygo, the Brazilian wide man is drawing 2.02 fouls per 90 from relatively limited minutes this campaign. Bryan Gil’s fouling numbers alone make this a logical bet, adding the likes of Vincicus and Rodrygo into the mix adds another layer of substance.

Mbappe’s scoring numbers have been absolutely ridiculous this season, four goals against Olympiacos on Thursday night has further boosted those numbers. The Real Madrid front man has now scored 22 goals in 18 games, putting him at a crazy 1.22 goals per 90. Mbappe’s level of finishing can’t be called into question, there’s certainly been an overperformance of his xG, with him currently notching 22 goals from 17.85xG. 

If you add the international fixtures as another layer of analysis, there have been just five games across the current campaign where he’s failed to find the net, converting in 17 out of 22 matches this season, giving him an overall strike rate of 77.27%. 

The quality of Mbappe’s finishing was evident against Olympiacos on Tuesday night, managing four goals from just 1.03xG, if he can replicate a similar performance against Girona, there’s a very high likelihood he’ll score again.

Real Madrid are currently averaging 5.5 corners per game across their away matches this season in La Liga and the Champions League, the only anomalies where they went below five corners were against Atletico Madrid, Getafe, and Liverpool. 

The quality of the opposition is a crucial factor here, two of those games were away to Atletico Madrid and Liverpool, where they only managed two corners in each. Atletico is one of the toughest places to go in Europe in terms of penetrating and creating chances in the final third, while Champions League nights at Anfield have been notoriously difficult for opposition teams to get on the front foot and have large spells of territory. 

If you take the Atletico and Liverpool games out of the sample, Real Madrid are averaging 6.38 corners per away game, a slightly healthier average. Given that Real Madrid are on the back of a European game, they might be slow starters out the blocks against Girona, if the scores are level or Real Madrid fall behind early doors then the likelihood of Real Madrid corners will probably increase.