Madrid, April 11 (IANS) Real Madrid all-but said goodbye to this season’s La Liga title on Friday night after being held to a 1-1 draw in the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium by Girona.

The draw leaves Real Madrid six points behind FC Barcelona in the standings with seven games left in the season, with Barcelona having the chance to extend the lead to nine points with a win at home to Espanyol on Saturday evening, reported Xinhua.

Real Madrid coach Alvaro Arbeloa made seven changes to the team that lost 2-1 at home to Bayern Munich on Tuesday in the Champions League, with Eder Militao, Raul Asencio, Jude Bellingham, Dani Carvajal and Brahim Diaz among those coming into the starting 11, while Arda Guler was among those rested with an eye on Wednesday’s return leg.

The first half saw chances for both sides with Kylian Mbappe, Vinicius and Federico Valverde all going close for Real Madrid, while at the other end Andriy Lunin did well to frustrate Azzedine Ounahi, while Claudio Echeverri went close for Girona in injury time.

Valverde put Real Madrid ahead in the 51st minute with a shot from outside of the penalty area that Girona goalkeeper Pablo Gazzaniga made a horrible mess of trying to stop, and Mbappe was close to making it 2-0 soon afterwards, but Girona was level just after the hour.

Former Atletico Madrid midfielder Thomas Lemar was allowed to collect the ball outside of the Real Madrid penalty area, step forward and beat Lunin with a left-foot shot into the corner of the goal.

With the crowd in the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium growing increasingly impatient, Arbeloa made several changes but it was to no avail as Girona held on for a point that helps its effort to avoid relegation.

–IANS

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