Why You Can Trust CNET La Liga Soccer Livestream: How to Watch Girona vs. Real Madrid From Anywhere
Can the improving hosts take advantage of Los Blancos' faltering form?
Real Madrid heads to Catalonia on Saturday looking to get its title defense back on track as they take on Girona at the Estadi Montilivi.
Carlo Ancelotti's side gave up vital ground in the title race to rivals Barcelona in midweek after losing 2-1 against Athletic Club at San Mames. The match which saw out-of-form Kylian Mbappe have a penalty saved for the second successive match.
While Girona comes into this match off the back of a Copa El Ray defeat to Logroñés, its league form has been strong in recent weeks. Girona will be confident at home against an opponent that appears to be short on confidence.
Girona takes on Real Madrid at the Estadi Montilivi on Saturday, Dec. 7. Kickoff is set for 9 p.m. CET local time, making it a 3 p.m. ET and 12 p.m. PT start in the US, a 8 p.m. GMT start in the UK and a 7 a.m. AEDT Thursday kickoff in Australia.
Below, we'll outline the best live TV streaming services to use to watch the game as it happens, wherever you are in the world.
Girona's head coach Michel Sanchez won La Liga's Manager of the Month award for November.
How to watch Girona vs. Real Madrid in the US without cable
This match is available to stream in the US via ESPN Plus, which has live English and Spanish-language broadcast rights for La Liga in the States.
ESPN's standalone streaming service costs $11 a month or $110 for an annual subscription. Read our ESPN Plus review.
How to watch La Liga from anywhere with a VPN
If you find yourself unable to view La Liga matches locally, you may need a different way to watch the games -- that's where using a VPN can come in handy. A VPN is also the best way to stop your ISP from throttling your speeds on game day by encrypting your traffic, and it's also a great idea if you're traveling and find yourself connected to a Wi-Fi network, and you want to add an extra layer of privacy for your devices and logins.
With a VPN, you're able to virtually change your location on your phone, tablet or laptop to get access to the game. Most VPNs, like our Editors' Choice, ExpressVPN, make it really easy to do this.
Using a VPN to watch or stream sports is legal in any country where VPNs are legal, including the US, UK and Canada, as long as you have a legitimate subscription to the service you're streaming. You should be sure your VPN is set up correctly to prevent leaks: Even where VPNs are legal, the streaming service may terminate the account of anyone it deems to be circumventing correctly applied blackout restrictions.
ExpressVPN is our current best VPN pick for people who want a reliable and safe VPN, and it works on a variety of devices. It's normally $13 a month, but if you sign up for an annual subscription for $100 you'll get three months free and save 49%. That's the equivalent of $6.67 a month with code SPECIALDEAL, which should be automatically applied.
Note that ExpressVPN offers a 30-day money-back guarantee.
Livestream Girona vs. Real Madrid in the UK
Premier Sports is showing a minimum of five live matches per week from Spain's top league on its Premier Sports 1 and 2 channels, as well as its dedicated La Liga platform. This game will be shown exclusively live on Premier Sports Player and La Liga TV.
A subscription to just Premier Sports' dedicated La Liga channel costs £8 a month.
You can also get the channel via a full subscription to Premier Sports, giving you access to all of the networks' channels, which have the UK broadcast rights to Scottish Premiership matches, BKT United Rugby Championship and Investec Champions Cup rugby, plus NHL and Nascar.
A full Premier Sports subscription costs £10 per month for Sky and Virgin TV customers. You can also get Premier Sports through Amazon Prime Video as an add-on for £15 a month.
Livestream Girona vs. Real Madrid in Canada
TSN is the rights holder for live coverage of La Liga matches in the region, with select fixtures being shown on its linear channels, and a wider selection of games being shown on its TSN Plus streaming platform. This match is set to be shown on TSN Plus.
TSN Plus is a direct-streaming service that costs CA$8 a month and also offers coverage of PGA Tour Live golf, NFL games, F1, NASCAR and the four Grand Slam tennis tournaments.
Livestream Girona vs. Real Madrid in Australia
Footy fans down under can watch La Liga fixtures live on BeIn Sports, which holds the live broadcast rights in Australia for Spanish top-flight matches. This match is set to be shown on BeIn Sports 2.
BeIn Sports is available in Australia for AU$15 a month or a yearly commitment of AU$130.
Quick tips for streaming La Liga using a VPN
- With four variables at play -- your ISP, browser, video streaming provider and VPN -- your experience and success when streaming La Liga matches may vary.
- If you don't see your desired location as a default option for ExpressVPN, try using the "search for city or country" option.
- If you're having trouble getting the game after you've turned on your VPN and set it to the correct viewing area, there are two things you can try for a quick fix. First, log into your streaming service subscription account and make sure the address registered for the account is an address in the correct viewing area. If not, you may need to change the physical address on file with your account. Second, some smart TVs -- like Roku -- don't have VPN apps you can install directly on the device itself. Instead, you'll have to install the VPN on your router or the mobile hotspot you're using (like your phone) so that any device on its Wi-Fi network now appears in the correct viewing location.
- All of the VPN providers we recommend have helpful instructions on their main site for quickly installing the VPN on your router. In some cases with smart TV services, after you install a cable network's sports app, you'll be asked to verify a numeric code or click a link sent to your email address on file for your smart TV. This is where having a VPN on your router will also help since both devices will appear to be in the correct location.
- Remember, browsers can often give away a location despite using a VPN, so be sure you're using a privacy-first browser to log into your services. We normally recommend Brave.