Real Madrid picked up a 4-1 win over Granada in the Spanish League earlier tonight, and Los Blancos are now just two points behind league leaders Atletico Madrid.
Goals from Luka Modric, Rodrygo, Alvaro Odriozola and Karim Benzema were enough to secure the three points away from home for Zinedine Zidane’s men.
Here at Anytime Football, we look at the three major talking points from tonight’s contest.
The impressive Miguel Gutierrez
Zidane raised eyebrows when he named two Real Madrid Castilla players in his starting lineup tonight.
Miguel Gutierrez started in the left-back position, and Marvin Park was handed the right-back role.
Gutierrez is has been earning rave reviews for his performances at the youth level, but few would have expected the youngster to perform the way he did in his first start tonight.
The young left-back completed the full 90 minutes, and he was pretty impressive for the visitors.
Defensively he was reliable at the back, and he was efficient going forward. The youngster chipped in with an assist as well.
With the likes of Marcelo expected to move on in the summer, the youngster will compete with Ferland Mendy for the starting berth next season.
Judging by his performance tonight, he has a bright future ahead of him, and it will be interesting to see if he can hold down a regular starting berth at Real Madrid in the coming months.
Thibaut Courtois, the star of the show
Real Madrid won the game comfortably in the end, but the scoreline is quite flattering.
Granada had plenty of opportunities to get back into the contest, and they could have easily scored a few more goals had it not been for the Belgian goalkeeper’s stunning performance.
Courtois made numerous saves for the visitors, and he admitted after the game that the team lost the ball way too many times, and a goalkeeper should not have to make so many saves.
The Belgian has been ever-present for Real Madrid this season, and there is no doubt that he has been the best goalkeeper in the world over the past year.
Real Madrid will need a massive slice of luck to win the title
Los Blancos are just two points adrift of their bitter rivals and League leaders Atletico Madrid, but they have a couple of very tough games coming up.
Real Madrid will face Athletic Bilbao and Villarreal in their final two games of the campaign, whereas Atletico Madrid will be up against the likes of Osasuna and Valladolid.
Judging by their performance tonight, Real Madrid will have to be extremely lucky to win the title this season. They have given away plenty of chances to Granada, and teams like Athletic Bilbao and Villarreal are likely to punish them if they continue to give the opposition chances like they did tonight.
Diego Simeone’s side will be firm favourites to win the Spanish League title this season, and it remains to be seen whether Zidane can get his team to win their remaining matches and take the title race down to the wire.
