Girona News

Madrid edged Mallorca 1-0 at home with a late goal by Antonio Rüdiger in a match that marked the return of Vini Jr. from injury.

Lionel Messi smashed two goals as Barcelona swept aside 3-1 victory over Girona in their second pre-season friendly under Ronald Koeman on Wednesday. Ronald Koeman made four changes to the lineup that had beaten Gimnastic de Tarragona 3-1 in his first game on Saturday. Barca play promoted La Liga side Elche in their final pre-season game on Saturday before beginning their league campaign the following weekend at home to Villarreal.

Getafe are six points ahead of sixth-placed Valencia, who visit Huesca later on Sunday.

With three games to go, little-known Getafe have 55 points along with Sevilla but cling on to the coveted fourth spot due to their superior head-to-head record, while Valencia are sixth on 52 but have the best head-to-head record of the trio.

The dramatic win left Valencia seventh on 39 points, six behind fourth-placed Getafe, two adrift of Alaves in fifth and one behind Sevilla.

City Football Group (CFG), which owns seven clubs worldwide across different football leagues, hope to complete a deal for a club in India too by the end of the year.

Madrid substitutes Gareth Bale and Vinicius Jr each squandered opportunities to level and things got worse when Ramos earned a second yellow card in stoppage time and was sent off for the 25th time in club football.

The victory took Real Madrid to 42 points, cutting the gap on second-placed Atletico Madrid to two points ahead of next Saturday's city derby.

The French forward, netted twice in the first-half to take his goalscoring tally to 209 goals in 446 games, moving ahead into sixth place on the club's all-time top scorers list. 

The second leg takes place next Wednesday, where Espanyol take on Real Betis and Real Madrid host Girona on Thursday in the remaining quarter-final, first legs after Getafe defeated Valencia 1-0 on Tuesday.

The two teams will square off again in the second and final leg on January 16 at Wanda Metropolitano Stadium in Madrid.

Argentine playmaker Ever Banega scored from the penalty spot in the 55th minute, after Andre Silva had been brought down, and Banega was also at the heart of a splendid team move from which Pablo Sarabia stretched Sevilla`s lead 10 minutes later.

Barcelona are currently standing at the top of the La Liga table, with nine wins from 15 games they have played so far. 

Athletic Bilbao will now lock horns with Alaves at Mendizorrotza Stadium on December 18, while Girona will face Sevilla in their next La Liga clash on Decemer 16. 

The proposals were dealt a fresh blow when the president of world soccer`s organising body FIFA, Gianni Infantino, declared at a council meeting last week in Rwanda that "official match leagues must be played within the territory of the respective member association".

Luis Suarez hit a hat-trick and Philippe Coutinho scored a brilliant first league goal for Barcelona as the La Liga leaders thrashed Girona 6-1 to open up a 10-point lead at the top of the table.

The defending Liga champions suffered a shock 2-1 defeat in their first ever league visit to Catalan side. 

Situated 100km from Barcelona, the city of Girona is fiercely pro-independence and a spiky atmosphere with a strong anti-Spain sentiment is expected at the promoted side’s Montilivi stadium.

A survey commissioned by the regional government in July showed 49.4 percent of Catalans were against independence while 41.1 percent were in favour.