Real suffer shock defeat to Girona as Ramos sets red card record
SANTIAGO SOLARI insisted the title was not lost after his Real Madrid side slumped to a shock La Liga loss to Girona yesterday.
Captain Sergio Ramos was sent off for 25th time – a La Liga record – in his club career as Real surrendered a lead to go down 2-1 to the Catalan side at the Bernabeu.
Ramos’ latest red means he will be suspended for Real’s clash against Levante next weekend before returning to face Barcelona in backto-back El Clasicos in both La Liga and Copa del Rey.
The defeat ended Real’s fivematch winning run and left them third in the table, nine points behind leaders Barcelona.
“Absolutely not,” coach Solari told reporters when asked if hopes of catching Barca were now gone.
“We will continue fighting on the three fronts that are open.
“This week there are games for our rivals in Europe and they have difficult games, all against sides like Girona that have shown to be very serious.
“We have to keep going and get back to winning.”
Solari admitted, however, that his side’s recent schedule, that also includes matches in the Champions League and Copa del Rey, may have taken its toll.
“The wear is not only physical but also mental and of concentration,” said Solari, who made six changes for the game.
Superiority
Real were comfortable in the first half but only had a Casemiro goal to show for their superiority at the interval.
Girona hit back with a Cristhian Stuani penalty and Portu grabbed what proved to be the winner before Ramos was sent off for a second bookable offence in the last minute.
Elsewhere, Ajax reduced the gap between themselves and Eredivisie leaders PSV Eindhoven to four points as they thrashed basement boys NAC Breda 5-0 at the Johan Cruyff Arena.
Dusan Tadic opened the scoring with a 38th-minute penalty and substitute Kasper Dolberg made it 2-0 eight minutes after the break.
Gervane Kastaneer scored an own goal just before the hour mark, Tadic netted again in the 67th minute, and four minutes later, Erik Palmer-Brown became the second NAC player to put the ball into his own net. Feyenoord, 11 points behind Ajax in third, lost 1-0 at Groningen, where Sven Van Beek netted an own goal in the first half.
Kylian Mbappe’s second-half strike earned Paris St Germain a 1-0 win at St Etienne last night.
In Italy Danilo D’Ambrosio and Radja Nainggolan gave Inter Milan a 2-0 win over Sampdoria as secondplaced Napoli secured a point against Torino in their 0-0 draw.