Real Madrid managed to end their 2025/26 La Liga season on something of a high note, producing a goal fest in a 4-2 win over a dreary Athletic Club while giving both Dani Carvajal and David Alaba proper send offs.
On the pitch, the biggest storyline of this easy win over an even more disappointing Spanish side than the Royal White this season was young striker Gonzalo Garcia, who snagged the opener with his usual surgical efficiency in front of goal, not wasting a beautiful cross from his right back (which has not been the case for the other forwards this season).
Garcia has been a clinical monster in front of goal in his first season as a senior player, and his strike against the Lions was his sixth goal of the 2025/26 La Liga season in under 1,000 minutes. He has statistically been considerably more efficient in front of goal than Kylian Mbappe, who has the entire team playing for him yet has just one more non penalty goal in the entire season across all competitions.
A young man earning more believers at Real Madrid
Yet Real Madrid are fully expected to sell Gonzalo Garcia this summer transfer window, with friend club Borussia Dortmund already closely linked in the case of replacing moody striker Serhou Guirassy for the far more affable and team chemistry supporting Garcia.
The decision to take Garcia over Guirassy would be similar to the plight Real Madrid are in, where they have a talented striker in Mbappe who mostly plays for himself and is more flawed than the raw goal data otherwise indicates.
Meanwhile, they have a qualitiy striker at the age of 22 from their own youth quarter, another home grown talent who may never shine in Madrid, discarded prematurely. Garcia could be the next in a long line of victims at the Santiago Bernabeu, and while he is not the athlete Mbappe is, football is played upstairs and not measured like the NFL Combine. And on the pitch, Garcia gets the job done, reminiscent of an even higher upside Joselu, that unforgettable veteran striker who delivered the 2023/24 Champions League to the Merengues.
Real Madrid fans are looking at Garcia's name on the transfer board with early regret, hoping that Florentino Perez and incoming manager Jose Mourinho give the impending sale of the potential Spanish World Cup striker a serious rethink. Because once again, he emerged from a game as a better player than the much more highly paid French forward.
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