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<\/p>\nGirona are flying in LaLiga this term <\/p>\n
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In one of Europe\u2019s biggest three-horse races, an unexpected fourth leads the way. Where usually FC Barcelona or Real Madrid reside, and on sporadic occasions Atletico Madrid, there\u2019s an altogether less-expected club sitting top of LaLiga after a third of the campaign \u2013 a free-scoring, attack-minded team who spent a net of barely \u00a34m in summer, have a stadium capacity of fewer than 15,000 and whose best-ever season in LaLiga to date saw them finish 10th.<\/p>\n
Welcome to Girona FC.<\/p>\n
The story of their rise is a tale in itself, but their opening 12 games of this campaign might yet make for the stuff of local legend.<\/p>\n
As recently as 1999 the club was playing in the Catalan regional leagues, the fifth tier of Spanish football, but after achieving their first-ever top-flight campaign in 2017\/18 and surviving for a second, they returned to LaLiga for 22\/23 and ended 10th last year \u2013 just as they did five years earlier in fact.<\/p>\n
There appears to be no danger of season four emulating season two, though. Where then they were relegated, this term they top the table, two points ahead of Real Madrid, four clear of champions Barcelona and a full six ahead of Atletico. Between Girona and fifth is a massive 10 points, after just a dozen matches.<\/p>\n
Masterminding this unexpected rise is head coach Michel Sanchez Munoz, better known just as Michel, a former Rayo Vallecano and Real Murcia player who has been in the dugout at Estadi Montilivi since 2021. Michel has the team playing offensive football \u2013 they\u2019ve not just won more games than anyone this term, they\u2019ve outscored everyone in LaLiga too \u2013 and the manner of it is even more impressive given the turnover of the squad: 10 in, three out, another half a dozen loaned away.<\/p>\n
That new group has been quickly moulded into a cohesive unit with a very identifiable approach to matches, as one of those new arrivals, former Manchester United and Ajax defender Daley Blind, told The Independent<\/em>.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s always difficult to compare managers, every one has his own ID and way of playing. But what stands out is the manager is really clear in how he wants to play football, he has a really clear idea about every game we play and having a real tactical plan,\u201d Blind said on a call. \u201cHe tries to give that to the team and make sure we understand the gameplan.<\/p>\n \u201cThe story he told me before I came to Girona was really intriguing and I can\u2019t say anything other than he did not lie \u2013 I got excited and wanted to play here after speaking to him.<\/p>\n \u201cYou can\u2019t know it for sure beforehand but we\u2019re really happy with how it\u2019s going and it\u2019s always important for a coach to be clear about that.\u201d<\/p>\n Michel has earned the respect of his players <\/p>\n Blind is happily effusive about Michel\u2019s man management as well as his tactical acumen. Having spent most of his career under the likes of Louis van Gaal, Jose Mourinho, father Danny Blind and others, he\u2019s well-placed to talk about who is impressive or otherwise on the coaching ground.<\/p>\n And while he won\u2019t directly look at matching up Michel\u2019s attributes to anyone else\u2019s, he makes the point that there\u2019s a real connection between coach and squad.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t want to compare [to others] but, for me, he\u2019s a manager who is human, who connects on a personal level as well. He joins in the rondo<\/em> [training game of keep-ball] and is part of the guys; at the moment training really starts he\u2019s then really on top of it and not holding back,\u201d the centre-back explains.<\/p>\n \u201cHe expects every training [session] to be the best but there\u2019s always time for a joke here and there. He has a good connection with every player \u2013 that\u2019s very special.\u201d<\/p>\n Savio and Aleix Garcia have impressed for Girona <\/p>\n Blind freely admits that his spell in Spain came at the second time of asking. He got the call from Girona last year after leaving Ajax; while considering his next move, Bayern Munich swooped in and he felt he needed to go. This summer, though, he was confident Girona was the right move.<\/p>\n While the Dutchman has been a mainstay at the back this term, central midfielder Aleix Garcia has caught the eye, while in attack young winger Savio has been impressive and new centre-forward Artem Dovbyk has not so much hit the ground running as thundering through defences, scoring six in eight starts or one every 109 minutes. Among LaLiga\u2019s best goal-getters, only Gerard Moreno (105), Alvaro Morata (105) and top scorer Jude Bellingham (95) can beat the Ukrainian\u2019s strike rate.<\/p>\n So has the fast start by Girona altered their season aims, made them look higher than might have been the objective at the start of the campaign? Not for Blind, who maintains the \u2018one game at a time\u2019 mantra.<\/p>\n \u201cFor me it hasn\u2019t changed, you want to finish as high as possible in the league and that\u2019s what we aim for. We\u2019ll see where that is at the end of the season,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Daley Blind made the switch to Girona over the summer <\/p>\n \u201cYou always be ambitious and have an aim but in the end you look game-by-game because the next one is most important and you want the three points. But you see which games are in the next couple weeks and be ambitious about it. It\u2019s not for me to reveal what we say about [those runs] but it always comes back to the next game.\u201d<\/p>\n For Girona, the next game is away to Rayo, Michel\u2019s oldest and most closely linked club.<\/p>\n Beat them and the Catalonian club will remain top across the international break, the envy of not just smaller clubs around Europe hoping to improve their own fortunes and challenge higher in the league, but of every club in Spain \u2013 including the very biggest and the supposed best. Perhaps, just perhaps, they won\u2019t be this year.<\/p>\n Source: Read Full Article<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"![](\"https:\/\/static.independent.co.uk\/2023\/11\/09\/15\/SEI177736506.jpg\")
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