Girona, immersed in the best year in its history under Míchel’s direction, sealed qualification for the Champions League with a victory against Barcelona (4-2) only 685 days after its last game in the Second Division, on the 19th. June 2022.
The team is the one that has needed the fewest seasons in First Division, five, to access the top European competition, ahead of Villarreal (6). The priority for this course was to link three seasons in the elite for the first time, after staying in two in the first stage (2017-2019). But “the players have done much more than the unthinkable, than could have been dreamed of,” as Míchel pointed out in the press conference after the victory against Barça.
First they secured salvation, then they surpassed the highest historical score in First Division (51, 2017-2018, with Pablo Machín), they made sure to finish in the top ten, the European classification, finish in the top five and against Barça they confirmed the classification for the Champions League.
It was the second match in a row in Montilivi that closed with the players taking the lap of honor in front of a dedicated fan and dressed in a commemorative shirt: if after the victory against Cádiz (4-1) they cried “Europe, we are here” the second already had the Champions League logo.
He also appeared on the scoreboard right after the match, while the speakers played the Champions League anthem for the first time. The team had achieved the fifteenth victory in 18 games at Montilivi, undefeated at home since September, and the eighth comeback of the season, one shy of the all-time tournament record held by Real Madrid (2008-2009).
Míchel also acknowledged that he would like to play at Anfield and at Borussia Dortmund’s field and host Bayern Munich or Inter. And that the next “dream” and the next “step” for Girona is to “win a title.” “It will be a dream, but sometimes dreams come true,” said the coach.
The team, he assured, has completed an “incredible” and “historic” season: “74 points with four games left is a brutal score, one of the best in history apart from the big three.” In fact, Girona is one step away from another feat: being the team outside the triumvirate formed by Madrid, Barça and Atlético, with the highest points since victories are worth three points and LaLiga has 20 teams. That is, since the 1997-1998 season.
They have four games to surpass Valencia (75 points in 2001-2002, champion, and 77 in 2003-2004, champion, and in 2014-2015, fourth), Sevilla (76 in 2014-2015, fifth, and 77 in 2020-2021, fourth), Villarreal (77 in 2007-2008, second) and Real Sociedad (76 in 2002-2003, second).
Míchel has already said that among the challenges for the last four games are also being the highest scoring team in LaLiga (73 goals, compared to Madrid’s 74) and achieving Pichichi for Artem Dovbyk: with his goal against Barça he already has 20, two more than Jude Bellingham and three more than Alexander Sorloth and Robert Lewandowski.
It would be the first Pichichi from a team outside of Madrid, Barça or Atlético in three decades: since Dani Güiza, from Mallorca, won it in 2008.
And the great challenge is to round off the course by sealing second position and playing in the Spanish Super Cup. Today they have one more point than Barça plus the goal average because they have won both direct duels: both 4-2. It is only the third time that Barça has lost both LaLiga games against a Catalan team. The last time was in 1941-1942, against Espanyol. It was the last season that Barça was not the first Catalan team in the classification. If Girona achieves it now it would be the umpteenth feat for a team, a club and a fan always used to suffering who are now smiling and experiencing the best year in their entire history.
2024-05-05 10:11:53
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