Girona 2-1 Real Madrid: 5 Talking Points

Girona have done it. The Catalan club beat the defending champions Real Madrid 2-1 at Municipal de Montilivi stadium in their first-ever meeting. Isco started the scoring but twin second-half strikes in quick succession from Girona's Cristhian Stuani and Cristian Portu swung the game altogether in a different direction.

Both teams had chances in the dying minutes but Girona held their nerves and finished on top. Real Madrid started with almost full strength. Cristiano Ronaldo started up top with Karim Benzema. For Girona, Cristhian Stuani is back after a suspension to lead the line.

Here are the 5 talking points from the game:

#5 Pablo Maffeo marked Ronaldo out of the game

Ronaldo's nightmare!

The 20-year-old is having a great start to the 2017/18 season and he had one of the best game of his career against Real Madrid.

The full-back, on loan from Manchester City, played a vital role in Girona's win over Real Madrid. He started on the right in a 5-4-1 formation and has to deal with the threat of Benzema and Ronaldo.

He thundered into challenges throughout the game and was good in the aerial battles. He was effective going forward and played a key part in Girona's second goal. In a counter attack, Maffeo founds himself unmarked in the box and his effort towards goal fell for Cristian Portu to finish with a backheel from close range.

It was surprising that Manchester spent a lot of money on Danilo when they had Pablo Maffeo

Pablo Maffeo's impressive Statistics:

Passes Completed - 26 (72%)

Successful Tackles - 5

Interceptions - 7

Dribbles Won - 2

Aerials Won - 3 (75%)

#4 Injury to Varane and poor display by Ramos

FC Barcelona v Real Madrid - Supercopa de Espana: 1st Leg

One of the best defenders in the world had a poor night at Municipal de Montilivi stadium. Sergio Ramos had a night to forget and if not for Varane, Girona would have taken the lead in the first half. Though he was good offensively, he let Real under trouble far too many times at the back.

In the 19th minute of the game, Sergio Ramos played a terrible back pass to Kiko Casilla and Real Madrid number keeper had to sprint in off his line to clear the ball with striker Cristhian Stuani lurking. Again in the 67th minute, Ramos was the culprit as he allowed Stuani to make a run and fire a shot. Lucky for Ramos, it goes wide of the far post.

With Varane injured in the first half, Real were exposed at the back. His absence was immediately felt as Nacho let Stuani ease past him to equalize right after the break. Often overshadowed by Ramos, Varane just showed how important he is to the Real side.

#3 Cristian Portu made the difference; Cristhian Stuani impressive

Cristian Portu celebrates his goal which proved to be a match winner for Girona

Start on the midfield right, Cristian Portu was the standout player for the newly promoted Catalan side. Most of the Girona's attacking play came on the right side as Real could not handle Cristian Portu and Pablo Maffeo's link up play.

For the entire duration of the game, Cristian Portu was a thorn in the flesh for Real Madrid defence, especially Marcelo. He was the chief architect of Girona's attacking play. He was unlucky to hit the woodwork in the 36th minute but scored the all-important second goal to clinch the tie.

Cristhian Stuani led the line brilliantly for Girona. Though he made only 18 touches, the least of any player on the starting 11 from both sides, he made some defence-splitting runs and took the goal brilliantly to equalize at the 54th minute.

Cristian Portu Stats:

Goals - 1

Key Passes - 2

Hit the Woodwork - 1

Total Shots - 3

#2 Poor display by Rea Madrid fullbacks

Bad day!

In the absence of injured right-back Dani Carvajal, Achraf Hakimi started on the right side of defence for his second successive La Liga game with Marcelo on the left.

Marcelo surprisingly had a poor game on the left and Achraf Hakimi wasn't good either. Marcelo was troubled throughout the game by the brilliant duo of Cristian Portu and Pablo Maffeo. Both full backs could not handle Girona's counter-attacking play and left spaces open on both the flanks.

They had a total of 0 interceptions and 1 tackle in the whole game compared to 8 and 6 respectively by their Girona compatriots Pablo Maffeo and Aday. Zidane was left with no option but to withdraw both his underperforming full backs as he went searching for goals.

Marcelo & Achraf Hakimi's poor combined stats:

Interceptions - 0

Total Tackles - 1

Clearances - 2

Crosses - 3

#1 Cristiano Ronaldo misfires again

Cristiano Ronaldo had a poor outing against newly promoted Girona

With just 10 games into the 2017/18 La Liga season, Real Madrid trail Barcelona by 8 points in the league table. But Real Madrid has a lot to worry about more than the title.

Their conversion in-front of the goal has been very poor this season and even today, Ronaldo and Benzema did not bury their chances. The form of Cristiano Ronaldo is a big concern for Zinedine Zidane. Cristiano Ronaldo has been in awful form this season. He was suspended for the first 4 La Liga games and was not at his usual best in the next 6 games. He attempted 28 shots on goal this season with just 1 goal to his name.

Even today, he missed a chance in the 23rd minute when he screwed his shot wide. On a couple of occasions, he hit straight at the goalkeeper, from 12 yards out. He threaded some good passes for Benzema but the Frenchman was unable to make use of it. Overall, Ronaldo fails to make an impact in the game.