Real Madrid did enough to beat lowly Granada 2-0 in an underwhelming La Liga encounter at the Bernabéu. The win keeps Real top on 38 points, ahead of Girona on goal difference.
Granada, who are second bottom on seven points with one win in 15 games, posed no threat to a Real, who showed no sign of weakness despite missing several regular starters through injury. The dominant hosts had 71% of the possession, while Granada did not manage a single attempt on goal.
Real opened the scoring in the 26th minute when Brahim Díaz played a neat one-two with Toni Kroos, collecting the German’s clever pass to beat the offside trap before firing past Raúl Fernández.
Díaz came alive again in the 57th minute to fight for a ball on the left side of the box before crossing for Jude Bellingham, whose point-blank effort was brilliantly denied by Fernández. However, Rodrygo was well positioned at the far post to pounce on the rebound and unleash a bullet strike to extend Real’s lead.
“It was almost a perfect game. We dominated and they created few chances. If I remember correctly, they didn’t shoot on goal,” Díaz told DAZN.
“My goal was a true striker finish, I’m happy, but credit to Toni, who sees the pass that no one else sees. You only have to see him on the pitch, how he looks for a teammate – it’s spectacular. In training we see him, and today I’d better shine his boots.”
Earlier, Cristhian Stuani scored two late goals within five minutes to give Girona a 2-1 win at home to Valencia, after the visitors kept frustrating the surprise high-flyers and went in front in the 57th minute thanks to a clever Hugo Duro strike following David López’s blunder on the edge of the box.
Stuani latched on to Yan Couto’s cross deep inside the box to fire in Girona’s equaliser in the 83th minute. Five minutes later the duo joined forces as again as the substitute Couto raced down the right before lofting a fine cross for Stuani to score the winner.
Stuani said: “I’m very happy for the team. The team didn’t give up. Valencia had a very good approach we struggled. We didn’t stop trying and in the end the goals came.”
RB Leipzig struck twice in the first half to edge past Heidenheim 2-1 and leapfrog Borussia Dortmund into fourth place in the Bundesliga. The hosts took a 29th-minute lead through a well-struck Lois Openda penalty and doubled it a minute before the break when David Raum charged down the left and crossed for Yussuf Poulsen to tap in.
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Heidenheim cut the deficit in first-half stoppage time, however, when Benedikt Gimber slid in at the far post to stab home from a corner with the Leipzig defence caught napping.
In a dominant second half, the hosts should have scored more goals. They missed several golden chances, including two late one-on-ones for Openda against Heidenheim keeper Kevin Müller and twice hit the woodwork.
Leipzig moved to 26 points, two ahead of fifth-placed Dortmund, who visit the leaders, Bayer Leverkusen, on Sunday. Second-placed Bayern Munich, on 32, will not be in action this weekend after heavy snowfall in the Bavarian capital forced the postponement of their Saturday match against Union Berlin.
Stuttgart’s Deniz Undav and Serhou Guirassy scored to give them a 2-0 home win over Werder Bremen, their third league victory in a row . They sit third, four points ahead of Leipzig.
Undav, a former Werder youth player, put them in front in the 17th minute and the hosts should have added at least one more before the break with Stuttgart having 17 efforts on goal in the game. The Guinea international Guirassy missed a string of chances but made sure of the three points with a 75th-minute penalty and his 16th goal of the campaign
This story will be updated