Girona will have striker Vladymir Vanat available for next weekend’s La Liga match at Real Oviedo, after Ukraine did not call him up for the Nations League fixtures against Northern Ireland and Georgia, diaridegirona.cat reported. Vanat appears only on Ukraine’s reserve list for the doubleheader, meaning he stays with his club while the international window interrupts the domestic calendar.
La Liga’s top division pauses this weekend for a new round of international matches. Unlike last month’s break, this one covers only a single weekend without Primera División football; Segunda División continues as always, and clubs in the second tier will lose their internationals. Girona has several selectable players and will almost certainly lose some of them, but the absentee list will not approach October’s, when the club was without six players at once.
Ukraine name Vanat on the reserve list only
Ukraine’s senior squad will face Northern Ireland and Georgia in the Nations League, and Vanat was not included in the selection. He is, however, on the reserve list, alongside former Girona forward Artem Dovbyk, now of Bologna, so either man would be called in if a selected striker drops out.
Girona midfielder Lass Kourouma will also stay home; Guinea did not call him up. Two other squad members look likely to travel: Ukraine’s under-21 side plays friendlies against Scotland and the United States in Murcia, and Krapyvtsov and Pyshchur have chances of being selected for those matches.
Several other decisions remain open. Colombia and Ghana have yet to reveal whether they will call Yáser Asprilla and Abdul Mumin, and Spain’s under-19 side has not announced its squad for the European Championship qualifiers against Iceland and Wales, where Junior Zamorano would be in contention. In any case, head coach Quique Álvarez already knows he can, in principle, count on Vanat and Lass for the Oviedo trip.
A lighter blow than October’s six-man exodus
Last month’s international break cost Girona six players: Vanat, Lass, Asprilla, Pyshchur, Krapyvtsov and Junior Zamorano all left for national duty. The absences barely dented the team’s results, though — Girona beat Albacete 2-0 and drew 0-0 with Mallorca at Montilivi during that window. This time the list of departures is expected to be considerably shorter, which Álvarez will welcome.
Vanat’s five goals make him the reference point in attack
Despite an uneven season, Vanat is Girona’s starting center forward and the club’s leading scorer, level with Asprilla on five goals. When he is inspired, his eye for goal makes him a genuine threat to opponents; on off days he can go almost unnoticed, touching the ball barely three times in a match, as happened at Real Sociedad’s Zubieta ground. Still, he remains the team’s main attacking reference, and Álvarez trusts him ahead of Abel Ruiz, Stuani and Pyshchur.
Oviedo lose no one to internationals
Meanwhile, the Asturian side is not expected to lose a single player to the international window. Oviedo has radically rebuilt its squad compared with last season’s Primera División campaign and now has an absolute majority of Spanish players. Youness Lachabb and Ilyas Chaira hold dual Spanish-Moroccan nationality but have never been called by Morocco’s senior team, and Romanian Alexandru Ișfan was not selected by his country.
Chaira, a product of Girona’s academy, is in the final stages of a muscle operation and is a doubt for next week’s match against his former club.
Questions Girona fans are asking about the Oviedo trip
Will Vanat definitely play against Oviedo? Ukraine left him off its Nations League squad and placed him only on the reserve list, so he is expected to remain with Girona for the match at Oviedo’s ground next weekend.
The contrast with October is the story’s measure: six internationals gone last time, and Girona still took four points from two matches, so a shorter absentee list for the trip to Oviedo leaves Álvarez with more attacking firepower than he had a month ago.
Related reading
