Girona: Everything you need to know about Real Madrid’s La Liga title challengers

Each season in at least one major European league, an unfancied team shocks everyone by catapulting themselves into a title race or a fight for a Champions League place. In 2023/24, that side is Girona.

Los Blanquivermells have emerged as Real Madrid’s main La Liga title challengers, with Barcelona and Atletico Madrid not in the picture.

Girona were only promoted back to the top flight in 2022 after a three-season absence and are not a renowned powerhouse in Spain, having spent much of their history down in the lower tiers of the country’s league system.

So what’s behind the club’s recent surge towards being potential champions of Spain? Here’s everything you need to know about the La Liga title hopefuls.

The 2022/23 season was Girona’s first back in La Liga after they were relegated in 2018/19. They were promoted through the play-offs and weren’t expected to do much else other than battle against an immediate return to the Segunda Division.

Instead, they finished the season in tenth place, just four points away from a Europa Conference League place. They got 49 points and created a basis from which to build in the 2023/24 campaign.

This season has been a dream for Girona fans. It took them only two matches to reach the top four of La Liga for the first time in their history and they were then top of the table after just seven matches with 19 points.

The first real statement victory in La Liga for Girona came on 10 December, when they won 4-2 away against current champions Barcelona thanks to goals from Artem Dovbyk, Miguel Gutierrez, Valery Fernandez and Cristhian Stuani.

2024 began with a 4-3 beating of Atletico Madrid 4-3, another result which showed they could genuinely mix it with those at the top of La Liga.

They face Real Madrid at the Bernabeu on 10 February with the chance to go one point clear with a win. Having lost 3-0 at home to Carlo Ancelotti’s side earlier in the season, this will be the toughest test yet.

Girona are currently led by Miguel Angel Sanchez Munoz, known as Michel. In two separate spells, he spent almost his entire playing career at Rayo Vallecano before becoming a youth coach after retiring as a player. He took Los Franjirrojos’ first-team job in February 2017, getting them promoted to La Liga in 2017/18 before being sacked in March 2019 with the side six points from safety. They were later relegated.

His next job was with Huesca, who he took from the Segunda Division into La Liga before losing the job with poor results in the top flight. He had shown enough quality in the second tier for Girona to sign him in July 2021. Michel engineered another promotion and the team has only improved under his guidance.

As for the squad, there are a handful of recognisable names. The highest-profile player is former Manchester United, Bayern Munich and Ajax star Daley Blind. The Dutchman regularly plays in defence and partners Eric Garcia who is on loan from Barcelona, whom he joined from Manchester City.

37-year-old veteran Stuani remains as important as ever since signing in 2017, contributing 12 goals in 26 games this season. That tally is bettered only by Ukrainian striker Dovbyk who has 14 strikes.

Other important players include full-backs Gutierrez, Yan Couto and Arnau Martinez, while the likes of Savio, Ivan Martin, Fernandez and Viktor Tsygankov have been key in attack. Central midfield is where Yangel Herrera and Aleix Garcia have really excelled, while former Tottenham man Paulo Gazzaniga has become the first-choice goalkeeper.

Girona have used a number of formations this season under Michel, with expectations changing week by week. In possession, though, they tend to use a 4-2-3-1 and play in an aggressive and attack-minded manner. After the first 13 games of this season, they averaged 52.45 per cent possession, 11.27 shots and 1.86 goals per game.

They use their wide players to attack space, where the likes of Gutierrez and Couto come in as full-backs and Tsygankov and Savio as wingers. Many players in the team can play in multiple positions, helping Girona switch between using a back three or more narrow attacking formations that see Tsygankov and Savio play immediately behind Dovbyk.

Midfielders like Herrera and Garcia make late runs into the box to provide more options for the wide players when they seek a cross. They play an exciting and modern form of football which allows almost everyone to play a role in each attack. That is shown by how the goals have been spread around the team.

Girona’s top scorers in 2023/24

Stats correct as of 09/02/2024.

This is where the fairytale element of Girona’s season has something of an asterisk slapped next to it; at least as far as some people are concerned.

While there is a huge amount to admire about what Michel and his players are doing in La Liga, the ‘underdog’ romanticism is tainted slightly by Girona being a part of the City Football Group (CFG), which Manchester City is the flagship club of.

Multi-club ownership is growing rapidly in modern football and CFG is the best example of it. Girona were founded in 1930, but CFG purchased 44.3% of the club in August 2017, the same amount that is owned by Girona Football Group, which is headed by Pep Guardiola’s brother, Pere.

Herrera, Aleix Garcia and Eric Garcia are all former Man City players, while Couto is on loan from the Premier League champions. Guardiola’s side have been linked heavily with a move for Girona winger Savio, a deal that is causing controversy. He is on loan at Girona from Troyes, another CFG club.

Man City have been in talks with Troyes to agree a deal, but that has prompted the Premier League to conduct a fair market evaluation of the proposed transfer, according to 90min. City stress that the deal is not yet agreed anyway.

This murky situation does not take away from the work Michel has done at Girona, but the new structure is a symptom of a changing global game which leaves a bad taste in the mouths of many fans.

Ironically, Girona doing so well could pose Man City a real problem. Should Girona end the season in Spain’s top four, it would be the first time a fellow CFG side has qualified for the Champions League.

UEFA rules are designed to stop teams with the same ownership facing one another in the Champions League, though they are yet to be used in full force by UEFA despite potential opportunities to do so. The restrictions are also expected to be relaxed in the future.

If both clubs qualify for the Champions League, it will be up to UEFA’s Club Financial Control Body (CFCB) to decide if the two clubs ‘share control of influence’. The rules state that whichever team finished higher in their domestic league will have priority. If they finish in the same position, the club with the highest UEFA association coefficient goes into the Champions League.

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