In 2004, Valencia CF won the Spanish football championship. Since that year, the three biggest clubs in the country (Real, Barça, and Atletico) have shared the titles, and no team has managed to outshine them. This year, a small town in Catalonia may be on the verge of doing it.
Always in the shadow of FC Barcelona, Girona spent the majority of its history in lower divisions. They have only been playing in the first league since last year, where they finished in 10th place. A position already very respectable for a club of this stature, but what the Catalans from the Costa Brava region are achieving this season is simply phenomenal.
Indeed, with a budget of barely 50 million euros, Míchel's men are currently in 2nd place in LaLiga, tied on points with Real Madrid. To better grasp the financial disparity between these two clubs, know that Real Madrid's budget is around 800 million euros. So, how do they manage to compete?
Firstly, when a small team manages to chalenge so closely the big ones, its coach undoubtedly plays a crucial role. The maestro behind Girona FC is named Miguel Ángel Sánchez Muñoz. He is nicknamed Míchel and is 48 years old. He had a football career as a midfielder and spent over 17 seasons with the same club, Rayo Vallecano. He has been coaching Girona since August 2021.
Higher up in the hierarchy, the president of the football club of this modest town, primarily known for its medieval streets and university, is none other than Pere Guardiola, the brother of the famous Pep Guardiola. Knowing the incredible success that the current Manchester City manager had in the previous decade with FC Barcelona, it would be amazing if his brother followed in his footsteps and won the title with another Catalan team.
On Wednesday night, they were leading three goals to one against Atlético Madrid at halftime, were equalized 3-3 in the 54th minute, and eventually managed to win 4-3. Such a hunger for victory and an amount of luck like this are signs of a confident team that seems well on track to fight until the end. Defensive improvements will be needed to succeed in this daring gamble, but nothing is impossible with this points total halfway through the season.
On the field, the team plays in a 4-1-4-1 formation. Artem Dovbyk, a Ukrainian international forward who played for FC Midtjylland in Denmark, leads the attack. Portu, a former Spanish player from Real Sociedad, is on the right wing, while Sávio, a young Brazilian loaned from Troyes, a French club member of the City Football Group managed by the Guardiola family, is tasked with animating the left side. In the midfield, there's the Spanish player Pablo Torre, loaned from FC Barcelona, alongside the Catalan Aleix García and the Venezuelan Yangel Herrera from Manchester City. Another key player, Iván Martín, completes this 100% Spanish-speaking and mostly Guardiola-influenced lineup.
In central defense, FC Barcelona has placed a second player in his sister team with the Catalan Eric García. To accompany him, the 33-year-old Dutchman Daley Blind, a legend from Ajax Amsterdam, is there to bring his experience. On the left, one wonders what the Madrid native Miguel Gutiérrez, from Real Madrid's youth academy, has come to do with the enemy. On the right, the presence of another Catalan, Arnau Martínez, trained at the club, makes more sense. Finally, the experienced 32-year-old Argentine goalkeeper, coming from Fulham, Paulo Gazzaniga, will have an important role to play in tes second half of the season.
With this unexpected rise of Girona FC, LaLiga is extremely interesting to follow this year, and football fans worldwide are in for a treat with the upcoming matches of this team. The suspense is set to be particularly intense.
Will the small neighboring town that Barcelona has always looked down upon manage to bring them down? Will the Guardiola family once again achieve a sensational feat? Let's see.
