Girona puts romanticism in the Spanish League .
Football today is a world where only wealthy teams succeed. Nevertheless, sometimes there are feats like the one that Girona of the Spanish League is currently performing. A team from Catalonia that these days brings back the romanticism to this sport loved by so many.
To put it in context, Girona Football Club is the team from a small province of the same name in Spain, which has only four participations in the First Division of Spanish soccer, including the current campaign, and its best position was tenth place in the 2022-2023 season.
In this Liga 2023-2024, Girona not only stood up to teams like Villarreal, Sevilla, Valencia, Betis, or Athletic Bilbao, heavyweights in the competition. Their boldness has even reached the point of giving a bath of their own game to the almighty Barcelona, last Sunday. Today, they are the undisputed leaders of La Liga with 41 points, two points behind Real Madrid, their closest rival.
The helmsman of this ship is the 48-year-old Míchel Sánchez, from Madrid, who arrived at the Catalan club in July 2021 and in his first two seasons achieved promotion to the First Division and permanence in it.
The board’s best decision was to renew Míchel’s contract last summer until June 2026, although they never dreamed that they would be leaders of La Liga at this point.
The club from the northeast of Catalonia has its greatest weapon in team play, being the top scorer of the contest with 38 goals. Among them are Ukrainian Artem Dovbyk (eight goals in fifteen games) and Uruguayan Cristian Stuani (six goals in sixteen games).
Stories like this in world soccer don’t happen much, and on the vast majority of occasions the team deflates in the second half of the season. However, there are still 22 games to go before the end. For now, on May the 26th, 2024, if not before, we will know how Girona Football Club’s heroics will end.
Written by Alejandro López.