Real Madrid dropped points at the Santiago Bernabeu on Sunday evening when they played a 1-1 draw at home to Girona.

Having seen Barcelona win late away at Valencia on Saturday, Real Madrid knew that they had to win to keep their points advantage over the Blaugrana.

However, without their talisman, Karim Benzema, who is still out injured for the third consecutive game running. Real Madrid struggled s at the front, with Vinicius junior Rodrigo and Federico Valverde struggling to break down the Girona defense.

Therefore, it wasn’t a surprise that the first half ended goalless, Although Thibaut Courtois was also on hand in goal to stop the visitors from taking the lead.

Real Madrid finally broke the deadlock midway into the second half when Brazilian forward Vinicius Junior swept in a low cross to give Real Madrid a 1-0 lead in the 70th minute.

However, Real Madrid was penalized for an apparent handball in the Box by Marco Asensio, which, after VAR consultation, the referee pointed to the spot.

The resultant spot kick was converted by Christian Stuani in the 80th minute, and although Los Blancos scored with few minutes left of regular time, the goal by Rodrygo was chalked off due to an infringement on Girona goalkeeper Paulo Gazzaniga.

There was more drama as Real Madrid was reduced to ten men, and nine minutes of additional time was played.

Real Madrid will play Celtic in the UEFA Champions League during the week while they have two more games to go in La Liga before the world cup break.

Nevertheless, they remain at the top of the with 32 points, one more than Barcelona. Xavi’s men had defeated Valencia 1-0 thanks to a goal from Robert Lewandowski in the final minutes of the game to ease the pressure after dropping from the UEFA Champions during the week.