The Spanish outsider club is level on points with Real Madrid at the top of the table. At the center of the fairy tale is the coach Míchel – a working-class child from Madrid who gets along brilliantly with Pep Guardiola.
Míchel doesn’t make Girona look like an outsider: no club in the Primera División has scored more often this season.
Joaquin Corchero / Imago
As a boy in Madrid’s working-class district of Vallecas, Miguel Ángel Sánchez Múñoz “Míchel” sneaked into the apartment buildings next to the stadium. From the upper floors of the stairs you could see down into the stadium and watch Rayo Vallecano’s games. Míchel later played for the club for almost two decades, was promoted to the first division four times, became a record goalscorer and a club symbol.
