REMEMBER Terry Gibson? Well, we've signed him and while he won't be kicking a football he'll be looking into his crystal ball and bringing us his best Spanish tips every week.
The ex-Spurs, Coventry and Manchester United striker is probably best remembered for his time as part of the infamous Wimbledon Crazy Gang side of the late 80s and early 90s. Now an expert in all things La Liga he works as a pundit and co-commentator on Sky Sports’ Spanish football coverage and is a contributor to unibet.
Here is Terry's tips for Real Madrid's trip to Catalonia on Sunday afternoon.
Girona v Real Madrid (3.15pm)
A little bit of added political spice in this game I’m afraid, as Real travel to Cataluñya. There is also the Sant Narcís festival over the weekend in Girona, so expect things to be quite lively.
I’m expecting it to be heated on the pitch too and it will be Los Blancos’ first ever visit to the Estadi Montilivi for a La Liga encounter.
Girona picked up only their second win of the season on Monday evening, away from home at Deportivo la Coruńa and it will give them renewed hope going into this game.
We are slowly but surely finding out about the style of Pablo Machin’s team and it is one where they are reliant on enthusiasm and young players.
They play with a three-man defence which I think will serve them well against the two-striker system of Zidane’s team. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Juanpe and Ramalho man mark Benzema and Ronaldo and Bernardo to be the sweeper.
Against Barcelona, Machín gave the man marking job to Pablo Maffeo, who was asked to possessively mark Messi. He did exactly that to the letter of the law. It worked to a degree in denying Messi but Barcelona Still won 3-0.
This certainly won’t be easy for Madrid and if Girona hold out for the first 30 minutes then it could really get uncomfortable.
In a game like this where it will be feisty, the quality of individuals can sometimes be the difference. If that is the case then you have to back the visitors.
Once again, team selection is going to be the issue for Zidane with the Spurs game at Wembley in the Champions League midweek but with Benzema rested last time out against Eibar, I expect him and Ronaldo to lead the line in this one.
I wouldn’t be surprised to see Modric on the bench for this game though. I’m expecting a spirited Girona performance where they could make it difficult but for Madrid to just shade it by a scoreline of 2-1.
Madrid’s away form has been impeccable so far, winning all four and I expect that form to continue in this one. I’m going to go for Ronaldo to get the first goal as he is due to start on the goal trail pretty soon.
Mind you, I’ve been thinking that for a while now regarding Suarez, Ronaldo, Griezmann and Benzema but they have a combined goals total of just seven.
Between them they don’t have as many as Bakambu or Simone Zaza, strange times indeed in La Liga.
Terry's Tips
- Correct score: Girona 1, Real Madrid 2 (15-2, Unibet)
- First scorer: Ronaldo (12-5, Unibet)
- Girona to score (53-100, Unibet)
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An ex-Tottenham, Coventry and Manchester United striker, Terry is probably best remembered for his time as part of the infamous Wimbledon Crazy Gang side of the late 80s and early 90s. Now an expert in all things La Liga, he works as a pundit and co-commentator on Sky Sports’ Spanish football coverage.
