Real Madrid did enough to beat lowly Granada 2-0 in LaLiga on Saturday, a game that will not live long in the memory of an underwhelmed Santiago Bernabeu Stadium crowd on a chilly evening in the Spanish capital.
The win takes Madrid to the top of the LaLiga standings on 38 points, ahead of Girona, who beat Valencia 2-1 earlier on Saturday, on goal difference.
Rodrygo bagged his fifth goal in three games and Brahim Diaz pulled the strings as Real Madrid cruised to a home win over Granada. Goals in both halves settled an otherwise chippy contest to hand Los Blancos a comfortable 2-0 victory.
After a quiet 30 minutes, Madrid came alive. A flowing move opened the scoring, Diaz, dropping a pass off to Toni Kroos, who arrowed a ball in behind, perfectly placed for Diaz to finish with a delightful dink from close range.
It was a frustrating night for Jude Bellingham, meanwhile, who was constantly fouled by the visitors and yet Granada were rarely punished. He almost talked himself into two yellows on multiple occasions, and will perhaps be challenged to monitor his mouth going forward.
Stuani levelled after 82 minutes and bundled home another with two minutes to go, with both goals set up by Yan Couto crosses as fans at Girona's tiny Montilivi stadium went wild.
After dropping two points in a draw with Athletic Bilbao to start the week, Girona seemed poised to fall to only their second defeat of the season.
"It's good to recognise that we are making history, it can't be something normal that we've taken 12 wins from 15 games," Girona coach Michel told reporters.
Real Madrid went back top of La Liga after they beat Granada 2-0 on Saturday at the Bernabeu.
Carlo Ancelotti’s team needed three points to leapfrog Girona after the Catalans beat Valencia 2-1 earlier in the day
With Madrid showing no urgency the match all but went to sleep until Díaz showed up again in the 57th minute to fight for a ball on the left side of the box, winning the challenge to cross for Jude Bellingham, whose point-blank strike was brilliantly denied by Fernandez.
However, Rodrygo was well-positioned at the far post to pounce on the goalkeeper's rebound and unleash a bullet strike to extend the locals' lead. The Brazilian has now scored in five consecutive games in all competitions racking up seven goals and four assists in that time.
"He's back to his best level, scoring a lot of goals," Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti said of Rodrygo. "People say he only scores on the left, in the second half I put him on the right, where I thought he'd have more space.
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