No competition a First Divisionthe vast majority of players from the Girona enjoy a weekend off before next Saturday’s derby in Montilivi against the Spanish. Not all of them, because there are four of them who have national team commitments and have no rest. It is what the squad has to work well and follow a positive dynamic in the highest category, which serves as a showcase for the footballers to be taken into account by their selections. What Viktor Tsygankovwith 42 internationals, play with Ukraine against England tomorrow at Wembley it’s nothing new. Yes, it has been, on the contrary, the premiere of santi good with Uruguay. The Girona central made his debut yesterday afternoon with the Charrúa team in a friendly against the Japan (1-1) in which he played the ninety minutes. It was the first time that Bueno defended the absolute jersey of the celeste, a merit that he has achieved thanks to his remarkable performances with Girona.
Bueno, then, is added to the ever-longer list of players who have been internationals defending the white-and-red shirt. The Uruguayan was the penultimate, because tomorrow it will be Tsygankov’s turn. Of the current staff, too riquelme i Arnau Martinez, who yesterday were with the Spanish under-21 team in Almeria, also have international prominence. On the other hand, Angel Herrera, usual with Venezuelahas not yet been called up since he belongs to Girona due to the continuous injuries he has suffered. Joel Rock, Ricardo ArteroGabriel i Urena -now transferred to San Fernando and Cartagena– have also been selected by the U19 team at some point.
Seeing international foreigners in Montilivi is something quite modern. In fact, before promotion to Segona in 2008, it was unthinkable to think that Girona would have absolute international players or in lower categories. Apart from the Olympic Isidre Hall (1968), o by Arseni Comas and Narcís Juliàwho were under-19 and under-20, before flying to Barça and al Zaragoza respectively, Girona’s international presence was a lot. Javier Subirats (78-79), on loan from Valencia, opened the door to the under-21 team which, apart from Julià, would not be opened again until more than three decades later when pablo iniguez he would represent Girona in the 2014-15 academic year. From here on and above all following the team’s promotion to Primera, Pablo Maffeo, Alex GarciaPedro Porro and Álex Baenaapart from Arnau Martínez and Riquelme, they have also tasted the penultimate level before the Spanish absolute.
The foreign payroll is much broader. In these last seasons in which Girona has consolidated in professional football and tasted the highest category, a dozen players have been international from Montilivi. Christian Stuani (Uruguay), Johan Mojica (Colombia) and Yassine Bounou (Morocco) they even contested the World Cup Russia 2018 as Girona players. They complete the list Yoel Bárcenas (Panama), Arijanet Muric (Kosovo), Jonas Ramalho (Angola), Choco Lozano (Honduras), Michael Olunga (Kenya), Larry Kayode (Nigeria), Ranko Despotovic (Serbia) or Marc Bernaus (Andorra). On the other hand, Douglas Luis he was international U20 and U23 with Brazil and Kevin Soniunder23, with Cameroon.
On the other hand, Bernardo Espinosa he was left with the desire to debut with the absolute of Colombia in 2018, in the same way that Valery Fernández neither could he make his debut with the Spanish under-21 team in 2020. Both were called up but did not enjoy minutes.
