Form guide: Real Madrid draw with Girona

Five days before the Champions League clash at FC Bayern, Real Madrid were held to a 1-1 draw by Girona FC on Friday evening. In their final match before the quarter-final second leg, Álvaro Arbeloa’s side took the lead at the Estadio Santiago Bernabéu through Federico Valverde’s 51st-minute goal, but 12th-placed Girona equalised 11 minutes later. Real had significantly more chances but couldn’t find a winner. It could prove to be a decisive slip-up in the La Liga title race as leaders FC Barcelona won 4-1 in their match against Espanyol on Saturday. As a result, Madrid now trail the Catalans by nine points with seven rounds left.

“With all the chances we had, and how few Girona created, we should’ve won the game,” said Arbeloa afterwards. Looking ahead to the meeting with Bayern on Wednesday, he added: “We have more time than we did before the first leg to analyse everything and rectify the things we didn’t do well. We have to try to improve and strengthen what we did well. We need to put all our energy into this game and travel to Germany with belief.”

After Bayern’s 2-1 win in the first leg in Spain, Los Blancos need a victory at the Allianz Arena on Wednesday night (21:00 CEST) in order to reach the semi-finals. “I want us to believe,” declared Arbeloa aggressively. “The players who travel with us will be confident that we can win and hold our own there. Bayern believe they’re the favourites with the lead they have and the home advantage, but they’re coming up against Real Madrid and I’m sure we’ll give them a good fight.”

Real line-up against Girona: Lunin – Carvajal, Eder Militao (Huijsen 64’), Asencio, Fran Garcia (Mendy 79’) – Valverde, Bellingham (Güler 64’), Camavinga (Tchouameni 79’), Díaz (Garcia 84’) – Mbappé, Vinicius Junior.