It is impossible to predict how many goals Taty Castellanos will score in Primera this season. If nothing else, he needed very little to become one of the clear protagonists of the summer in Girona. Arriving and grinding for the Argentinian striker, a goal-scorer, while waiting to see him in action on a much more demanding stage such as the First Division. For now, however, it’s doing. He responds to the confidence of his coach, a Míchel Sánchez who is holding, and in what way, his men when the premiere in Mestalla next week is getting closer and closer. Forgetting the excessive punishment against Naples in Castel di Sangro (3-1), the interrupted Costa Brava Trophy held last night in Palamós, lasted only 75 minutes but served to demonstrate the upward trend drawn by a team still under construction, with long-term injured and signings to come. But with newcomers who are already sweating the bacon on the grass and mechanisms that are increasingly assimilated. He has learned the lesson Castellanos, who opened the can against Àlex Granell’s Bolivar. A day that served to see in action, right from the start, two of the new faces: Miguel Gutiérrez, very offensive and daring, and a Yangel Herrera who, for half an hour, went from less to more. A day that also ended early. The light went out in all of Palamós and Sant Antoni de Calonge and the stadium did not escape. Unable to solve it in time, the duel ended prematurely.
Discarded Valery due to an overload, with the usual injured out of action and forced to distribute minutes in front of a busy weekend, Míchel opted for an eleven with a mixture of starting theorists and youngsters, as is the case of Monjonell, Àlex Sala or the electric Ureña. Whether with a defense of five or varying the drawing with the change of Yangel for Joel Roca, the dominance was, without any doubt, for a Girona who pampered the ball but not as much as he would have liked due to the terrible condition of the lawn The arrivals and chances kept happening until we reached Castellanos’ goal, the result of good driving by Ureña, a pass in space towards Miguel Gutiérrez and his shot, which hit the post, the he would end up connecting the argentine battering ram with the head. Third goal in this pre-season for Taty, which adds arguments to have a presence in Mestalla. And that about ten minutes earlier he had invented something frivolous in front of the goalkeeper Cordano that Míchel might not have been very amused by.
Àlex Sala, Ureña and Castellanos himself would also try, without much luck. But an unequivocal symptom, so many arrivals, of the clear monopoly of the Girona players, who left a dull, intermittent, voluptuous Bolivar with no choice but without too many ingredients to cook up a play with face and eyes.
Half an hour and thankfully, a much more congested second period was extended, marked by changes on both sides, by the toughness of a rival who gained meters and distributed more than a friendly match demands. Also because of the incomprehensible mistake of central Guitián, who made it 2-0 on his own in the same arena that, when he was a Zaragoza player, suffered an impossible to forget (6-2) thrashing against Llagostera. Míchel, who had stopped his plans, brought in Almansa, Pau Víctor and Biel Farrés. Other games were reserved for today, when it’s time to face Zaragoza. More charging minutes to fine-tune tuning. Before the lights went out and the Costa Brava was seen by sentence, a few more details. Terraces looking for goal and finding the good response from Cordano. And some arrival of Bolívar well resolved by a defense in which Monjonell approved and did so with flying colours. The League is approaching and Valencia’s debut on the field is getting closer, Castellanos is fine-tuning his aim to reach it and Girona is improving match by match.
