Real Madrid will open LaLiga's Jornada 31 on Friday against Girona, a match moved up to give the team extra rest before next Wednesday's trip to Bayern Munich in Germany.
The timing matters because Real Madrid go into the weekend one goal behind on aggregate in the Champions League quarterfinal tie and second in LaLiga, seven points behind FC Barcelona. A win over Girona, combined with a Barcelona stumble against Espanyol on Saturday, would cut that league gap to four points.
Álvaro Arbeloa made clear on the eve of the match that he is not treating it as a rehearsal for Munich. He said he wants to win, that he believed he picked the best possible team in Mallorca last week, and that he was not thinking about rotations for the next game. He called Friday's match the most important one he has had as coach, adding that the team has already had Munich on its mind since the final whistle last week.
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LaLiga's scheduling decision was designed to help Real Madrid recover before the second leg against Bayern, and Arbeloa said that window gives the squad four days to reset before the visit to Germany. Even so, his message to the players was to make the Girona match the focus now, with the Champions League tie waiting only after that. For Madrid, the equation is simple: keep pressure on Barcelona in the league, and arrive in Munich with enough energy to try to overturn the one-goal deficit.
