Last season was Gimnástica Segoviana, the previous one was Linares and this year, Calvo Sotelo Puertollano. Girona met their rival yesterday in the first round of the Copa del Rey in the draw that took place yesterday in Las Rozas. The drums matched Míchel’s team with La Mancha, from the Second RFEF and who currently occupies relegation positions (17th). However, Calvo Sotelo beat the historic Hercules 2-1 on the last day with a goal in the extra time. The match is set for the first week of December and will most likely be played on Thursday because Girona has a match on Monday 29 at Eibar.
It will be the third time that Girona visits Puertollano. The previous two were in the game of the former Second Division B in the 1978-19 and 1979-80 seasons and both ended 1-1. The matches, of course, were at the old Empedrol sports field and against a Calvo Sotelo who disappeared, drowned by financial debts, in 2015 and then reunited with the new club. The historic Calvo Sotelo played eleven seasons in Second A, the last in 1984-85. The new entity has been climbing categories to the fourth national, the new Second RFEF. Since 2010, the club has played its matches at the Ciudad de Puertollano stadium, with a capacity for 7,200 spectators. Calvo Sotelo is coached by Francisco José, Darío, Martín Acevedo, who is living his third season on the club’s bench this year. Darío has the blog that he promoted last year and has no prominent names in the staff. In fact, only central Dani Martín has experience in professional football, with two games with Las Palmas, the 2019-20 season.
So far, Girona has done well in the two matches against lower category teams that have had to play with this new format of competition. Last year, Francisco’s team easily beat Gimnástica Segoviana thanks to two goals from Nahuel Bustos. The previous year, they had to suffer a little more to get rid of Linares, in a game where the Andalusians took the lead and Girona came back thanks to two goals from Marc Gual (1-2). That day, the white-and-red expedition bus was hit by a rock as it left the stadium after the match. The first visit of Girona to Puertollano was also injured. It was April 1979 and Girona, coached by Vicenç Sasot, occupied relegation positions while Calvo Sotelo fought for the top of the standings. 1 – 1 was the score with 83 minutes played, after Barto Pagès cut through the central defense and chipped home a goal for Caetano Bueno. The tension between the fans was so great that the penalty kick could not be made until ten minutes after the foul and Paquito equalized the game to take a point and a positive to Girona (1-1). At the end of the match, the fans started a rain of stones as a sign of dissent one of which hit a civil guard. Another broke the glass of a small warehouse for the material. Nevertheless, the Girona expedition was able to return to normal without any setbacks. Girona’s next visit ended with the same result but it was calmer. Girona saw Calvo Sotelo, at the end of the match, equalize the goal of Barto Pagès.
Some of the players from Girona who have gone through the different Calvo Sotelo are Nitus Granados and Pau Garcia Castany, who coincided in the 1968-69 season in the Second Division. Former Figueres player Juan María Echegoyen (1970-71) and, more recently, Tariq Spezie, who was the club’s top scorer with 24 goals in the 2008-09 season in Segunda B, also played there.
Mollerusssa will host Getafe
While the four teams competing in the Spanish Super Cup have not yet entered the competition, they do, among others, Espanyol, Valencia, Betis and Sevilla. The white-and-blues were paired with the modest Cantabrian Solares. For their part, Sevilla will face Córdoba in an attractive Andalusian derby and Betis will visit the refounded Alicante. As for the rest of the Catalans, Mollerussa, from Primera Catalana, will host Getafe. The two teams of Primera RFEF, Sabadell and Cornellà were paired with Sanluqueño and Talavera, respectively.
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