Coach Zinedine Zidane insisted Real Madrid can still retain their La Liga title despite slumping to a shock 2-1 defeat at Girona on Sunday on their much-anticipated return to Catalonia.

The European champions hadn’t set foot in the deeply divided region over Catalan independence since a violence-marred referendum on October 1 sparked a political crisis across Spain.

Just days after the central Spanish government imposed home rule on Catalonia to nullify the local separatist leaders’ attempts to declare independence, Madrid were expected to enter the eye of the storm in the pro-independence hotbed of Girona, just over 100 kilometres northeast of Barcelona.

However, there were only smatterings of chants in favour of independence amid a largely party atmosphere with Spanish flags also waived by the Madrid support.