Real Sociedad continues to be one of the only two teams that resist Girona, whom they have yet to beat in the First Division, along with Betis. On this occasion, a goalless draw in Montilivi in a match in which the VAR annulled a local goal due to an offside that had occurred 37 seconds ago and that left three sanctioned on the Girona side in the final minutes ahead of the match. at the Bernabéu, Yangel Herrera and Blind, due to an accumulation of yellow cards, and Míchel due to a direct red card.
The game did not start well for the people from Girona who had to miss Dovbyk at the last minute due to knee discomfort. It will be necessary to see if the Ukrainian is not also added to the absences to play against Madrid due to injury.
The surprise was that the Madrid coach opted for the mobility of Portu rather than Stuani at the point of attack. The good news was at least the return to ownership of Eric Garcia who, fully recovered from the injury, once again formed a great tandem with Blind in the axis of the defense. Real also had some unexpected setbacks, in their case with the match already started, when Odriozola twisted his foot in a bad way, alone, while fighting for a ball in the first minute and had to be substituted. An added problem for Alguacil who had only dared to rotate mainly Merino and Le Normand thinking about the Cup tie.
The match, full of expectations due to the attractive proposals offered by the two teams, did not wake up until after fifteen minutes thanks to a direct free kick taken by Tsygankov that forced Remiro to make a big stretch. Minutes later, also from a set piece, after a corner, a play rehearsed by the locals left Aleix Garcia alone who once again finished dangerously. And a few moments later, when Yangel Herrera had been able to see the goal by finishing off a spectacular personal play by Savinho with his head, the VAR annulled it for offside by the Brazilian at the beginning of the play, well before the moment of the goal, as much as 37 seconds before. This provoked angry protests from the people of Girona who immediately saw how it was Odriozola who collected a rebound from Gazzaniga in an illegal position, preventing his goal from also going up on the scoreboard.
The second half started just as fast-paced and Becker had it for the visitors in a counterattack in which he finished so poorly that he was injured. Another misfortune for the San Sebastián team who, despite that, had a better start and better opportunities, like Barrenetxea with a very dangerous cross-shot. Also on this same wing, Real moments later hung a ball into the pot that a bad rejection by Aleix Garcia forced Gazzaniga to show off after a kick from Brais Méndez.
And in the last minutes, the controversy was once again the protagonist when Herrera saw a yellow card for a tackle in the middle of the field, which will force him to miss the game against Madrid. Gil Manzano, on the other hand, did not see any fouls in a play in which Savinho had been fouled, as he was almost throughout the game. And that got Míchel mad from the sidelines, who saw red for protesting, a fact that provoked the unprecedented chant in Montilivi of “this is how Madrid wins.” As if that were not enough, Blind, with the match already over and also about to address the referee, saw another yellow card that will also prevent him from playing at the Bernabéu.
