Girona claim Catalan derby spoils to go back top of La Liga

The Girona fairytale rolls on. The north Catalan outfit returned to the top of the table with a 2-4 victory away to FC Barcelona to put them back on top of La Liga. 

Míchel's clinically coached side were hugely impressive all evening and deservedly took the spoils in a rare Catalan derby with both sides in the top four.

As Girona continue their barely fathomable success story, it's always worth remembering that Míchel came in as manager of the Catalan side in July 2021 when the team were in the second division. Two-and-a-half seasons later, they're at the summit of Spanish football.

Both teams set out to play a possession style of football, and Barça were able to assert their dominance in this regard but had precious little to show for it.

Girona came to Montjuïc with a better gameplan and more prepared to execute it and were more than good value for their 1-2 half time lead.

The attacking fullbacks of Cuoto and Gutierrez provided pace and width and found space exactly where they looked for it time and time again, behind the Barça full backs where whipped crosses caused all sorts of danger in the home side’s box.

Dovbyk in particularly menaced the blaugrana backline and Savio’s quick feet took him on runs that cut through the defence with ease.

The second half provided much of the same: slightly more territorial advantage for the home team, but Girona were able to trouble Iñaki Peña's goal with relative ease, while Barça's muted attacks were mostly restrained to mostly harmless crosses into the box. 

A late Barça goal from Ilkay Gundogan made it 2-3 and gave the home side hope of an unlikely comeback. Lewandowski could have completed the turnaround but fluffed his header, before Girona sealed the win with a fourth of their own just a minute later.

Barça will lament sloppy defending especially for Girona's third and fourth, but the victors were clearly the better team on the night and sit deservedly top of the table. 

As per Ara journalist Toni Padilla, Girona became only the fifth Catalan club to ever win away to Barcelona, after CE Europa, Espanyol, Sabadell and Lleida. 

Friendly rivalry

Outside the ground before the game, there was a jovial atmosphere between the two sets of Catalan supporters. Blaugrana jerseys intermingled with the red-and-white of the north Catalans seamlessly.  

One fan being interviewed by Catalan public broadcaster TV3 ahead of kickoff explained that “whoever wins, it’s good for Catalan football,” before unveiling his Barça top to reveal he was wearing a Girona jersey underneath.  

He told the reporters that he was undoubtedly a Barcelona fan in his heart, but his sentiments towards Girona are ones that are commonly repeated in Catalan society.

Many residents of the city and area of Girona are naturally fans of the mega-club just 99km down the road, while many from Barcelona will have a soft spot for what they would generally see as a relatively unthreatening fellow proud Catalan club to the north.  

When the Girona goals were scored, it was evident that there were many away fans dotted throughout the ground, and not just in the dedicated away section. 

The longer the home team went on losing, patience in the stands wore ever thinner, and the frustration from the home fans got louder.

The longer Girona goalkeeper Gazzaniga held onto the ball, he was met with a rising crescendo of whistles; each perceived foul anywhere on the pitch was met with more exacerbated cries for retribution; each attack that petered out into nothing was met with more desperate pleas. 

What turned out as an evening of convivial celebration of Catalonia turned into inredulous celebrations for the away team top of the table again, and a night of frustration and angst for the home team outclassed by their neighbors that will require some soul-searching for Xavi and his team.