With no Vinicius Jr for manager Carlo Ancelotti to call upon, it means Kylian Mbappe will have much more of Real Madrid’s centre stage to himself this weekend. When looking at his attacking output for the season so far, this should hopefully see him test Girona’s defence more than once.

The French forward has already averaged an impressive 2.29 shots on target since making his move to La Liga. With 14 league appearances under his belt this season, he has also been on hand to deliver 8 goals for Los Blancos – 4 of those coming from the penalty spot.

Before Saturday’s clash between Girona and Real Madrid, the hosts currently average a total of 4.80 corners per league game. To go alongside this statistic, Michel’s men have also conceded an average of 3.33 since the start of the La Liga season.

Whereas the visitors have conceded an average of 4.27 by comparison, the defending Spanish champions have also registered 5.67 per game in La Liga. Not only that, but 8 of their 15 league games have seen no more than 5 corners won, and therefore, 10 is our upper limit on Saturday.

Real Madrid have collected the fewest yellow cards since the start of this season’s La Liga. Carlo Ancelotti’s men have picked up only 24 before their trip to Girona at an average of 1.67 per league game. By comparison, hosts Girona have earned 36 at an average of 2.4.

Numbers that suggest match referee Jesus Gil Manzano may not be all that busy on Saturday and with the hosts averaging a total of 4.87 total cards in the league and the visitors 3.93, our prediction is that no more than five in total are shown at the Estadi Montilivi.

Yaser Asprilla may have only made 7 La Liga appearances for Girona this season, but the midfielder has certainly been in the thick of the action when he takes to the playing field. Before Saturday’s visit of Real Madrid, the 21-year-old has been fouled an average of 1.57 times per league outing.

Of the Colombian’s 7 league appearances, he has collected fouls in 5 of them – a strike rate of 71.4% before the visit of Real Madrid. Of that quintet of encounters, 3 have seen Asprilla collect 3 fouls per game.

Before the visit of Real Madrid on Saturday, Oriol Romeu has made a habit of making himself known to La Liga referees and from his first 10 appearances of the season, the former Chelsea and Southampton midfielder has managed to collect an average of 1.50 fouls per league game.

It must also be noted that Romeu is often in the thick of it when it comes to midfield battles and this is reflected by collecting an average of 0.90 fouls per game and in 8 of the appearances where at least 1 foul was made, the 33-year-old made 2 or more fouls on 4 occasions – 50% strike rate.

With Rodrygo being drafted into the Real Madrid starting XI in midweek, the Brazilian forward will be keen to not only keep his place after defeat to Athletic Club but also to remind manager Carlo Ancelotti of what he is capable of in front of goal.

The 23-year-old has scored 3 league goals this season and is outperforming his expected goals value by 1.7. More importantly, Rodrygo currently averages 0.62 shots on target but with the opportunity to get another start under his belt, the chances of him beating that average will have now increased.

Although Kylian Mbappe’s arrival at Real Madrid has stunted Jude Bellingham’s ability to roam into the opposition’s penalty area and cause havoc, it has not completely stunted the former English international’s ability to score goals or create them for his team-mates.

Especially when you look at Bellingham’s La Liga output this season. The former Borussia Dortmund midfielder has scored 4 goals in his first 11 appearances, which neatly goes alongside 3 assists. On two occasions, the 21-year-old has scored and assisted in the same league game.

Although the Real Madrid goalkeeper does not have to be named for this leg, we are working on the basis that Thibaut Courtois will be between the sticks on Saturday. The Belgian has made 12 league appearances this season and has been required to make 22 saves in total.

This has meant Courtois averages 1.83 saves per league game this season and more importantly, the benchmark of making two or more saves in league competition has been reached on 6 occasions – a strike rate of 50% in all league games but 60% in league games where at least 1 save was made.