Girona: unbeaten against all odds
Heading into this La Liga matchweek, Real Madrid and Barcelona sat in second and third place respectively. These goliaths of Spanish football trailed a lesser known hero, the Catalan club Girona.
Though Barcelona’s Friday night victory at Sevilla has dethroned Girona, their unbeaten start to the season is nonetheless remarkable.
With six wins and one draw in seven games, Girona tops La Liga with 19 points, leading Real Madrid by one point. This marks a historic moment for the Catalan club, being at the forefront for the first time in its 93-year history. This achievement is particularly significant considering it’s only Girona’s fourth season in La Liga.
Much credit goes to their coach, Michel Sánchez, a former Rayo Vallecano player and coach. His tactical nous has propelled Girona up the table and his efforts to learn Catalan language have endeared him to the fans. “It seems to me that the best way to integrate into my environment is to be able to speak Catalan, and whoever wants to understand, it’s fine, and whoever doesn’t… seems to me to be short-sighted,” he told Cadena SER in January 2021.
This summer, Girona faced key departures. Oriol Romeu joined Barcelona for €3.5 million, alongside top goalscorer Taty Castellanos, winger Rodrigo Riquelme, and central defender Santi Bueno. These players had played crucial roles last season, helping Girona to a 10th-place finish with 49 points.
To compensate for these losses, they brought in several quality players: Eric García and Pablo Torre from Barça, Sávio from Troyes on loan, veterans Daley Blind from Bayern and Yangel Herrera from Manchester City on free transfers, and three additional players for just over €15 million to bolster their squad.
Owned by the City Football Group, the same entity as Manchester City and New York City, Girona has faced criticism in Spain for being seen as subordinate to Manchester City, particularly with three former City players in the squad: Yangel Herrera, Aleix García, and Yan Couto (on loan).
Pere Guardiola, Pep’s younger brother, serves as the President of the Girona FC Board of Directors and responded to critics in Diari de Girona. “This is nonsense. We’ve been running the club from here since day one. We were not told before that we were City’s subordinate or from Pepito de los Palotes. So it’s just nonsense.”
Before their relegation in 2018/19, Girona was voted the third most disliked team in La Liga, according to a Statista European Football Benchmark study published by the Spanish journal ABC in 2018.
Still, there are those who have revelled in Girona’s rise.
“They’re the team that play the best football in La Liga. It’s lovely to see them play,” commented Villarreal midfielder Ramon Terrats, a former Girona player.
Apart from Barça, no European team has more points or goals.
Michel Sánchez maintains humility, emphasizing that the primary goal is to avoid relegation.
Michel highlighted, “It doesn’t make any sense to give it too much importance because the season has just started.” He also added, “I prefer to talk about the fact that in 2023, Girona is the team with the most points in La Liga after Barça, Madrid and Atlético de Madrid.”
This is a remarkable achievement for a club representing a city with less than 100,000 residents, always overshadowed by Barcelona.
They face their toughest test so far this weekend, hosting Real Madrid at Montilivi on Saturday. If the start of this season is anything to go by, Girona will not back down against this Goliath.
