Girona vs Espanyol: Gazzaniga Injury Mars Catalan Derby

Cornellà de LlobregatThere are those who say that it is a modern derby and overdue, but Espanyol-Girona is still a derby. And the parakeets, who have historically only played them regularly with Barça, live it as such. And they suffer, because the white-and-blues, used to giving up against the Blaugrana, have also never won at the RCDE Stadium against Girona. Yesterday they lost again (0-2). A solvent Girona and a dubious penalty that was repeated were to blame. Vanat, who has scored three consecutive days, executed the sentence of an impotent Spaniard who has not known victory this year; quite the opposite to Míchel’s, which add up to nine again.

At the start, everything that could be foreseen happened: Girona had it and, with long and risky possessions born from the boots of Paulo Gazzaniga –Ter Stegen is still a FC Barcelona player–, they looked to hurt Espanyol, the revelation of the competition. And the white-and-blues, not at all uncomfortable with this type of match context, were trying to hunt a run by Tyrhys Dolan, who had disappeared last night.

A snipe from the sofa

Only a shot over the crossbar by Thomas Lemar and an intervention by Daley Blind to prevent a clear shot by Edu Expósito woke up the spectators watching the match from the sofa at home on the day that Primera Division football was back on TV. The absence of Ounahi, who will play in the Africa Cup of Nations final with Morocco on Sunday, and Javi Puado, who will not return until next season, did not help the show.

Of course, right before the break, things got really lively. Referee Iosu Galech whistled for Omar El Hilali’s slight hold on Hugo Rincón at the exit of a corner, and the slumbering television viewer woke up. Marko Dmitrovic stopped Vanat’s shot, but as he had advanced, the Navarrese had it replayed. In the second, the Ukrainian striker did get it right and to finish igniting the RCDE Stadium fans, pissed off by the penalty, he celebrated by putting his hand to his ear in a defiant gesture. They know it even in Ukraine: a derby is a derby.

The entry of Jofre Carreras, who tested Gazzaniga’s reflexes and made a cross-shot that Roberto missed by centimeters, slurped the white-and-blue attack and put fear in the body of Míchel’s, who were outplayed throughout the second half by the parakeets. Cabrera, with a header to the mouth of the cannon, almost transformed into a goal the attack-and-goal of the parakeets, both willful and imprecise, who saw how Vanat made it 0-2 in the stoppage time, also from eleven meters, and ended up stirring the spirits of the stands, who until the end had them with Gazzaniga, who received the impact of a bottle, without consequences, after celebrating the second by facing the fans locals