For tiny Girona, a Spanish football fairytale run they hope will never end

GIRONA is a medieval city in Spain’s northeastern Catalonia region that’s about 100 km away from Barcelona. It’s known for quite a lot of things – sandy beaches, a thriving food scene, one of Europe’s best-preserved Jewish Quarters, and an ancient cathedral that was prominently featured in the wildly popular Game of Thrones series.

These days, however, Girona is attracting a much different type of attention, the kind that this city of just over 100,000 people is not used to. Girona is also the name of the football club that is currently sitting pretty at the top of Spanish football’s top professional league. 

After a third of the season played and 13 games completed, Girona – a team that was promoted to La Liga just 17 months ago – are now flying high, two and four points clear of serial winners Real Madrid and Barcelona respectively.

Defying logic

Looking at the league table almost makes one do a double-take in disbelief. Girona have a proud record of 11 wins, one draw and just one defeat (to Real Madrid at the start of October). Across Europe’s five biggest leagues, no club has amassed more points at this stage than Girona. Yes, even more than the likes of Manchester City, Bayern Munich, Paris Saint-Germain and the two Milan giants.

That’s simply astounding, and one gets the sense that no one at Girona, including the manager Michel Sanchez himself, can quite comprehend what they’ve accomplished so far. Of course, it’s very early days in this 38-game season and there are no trophies given out for finishing first at the end of November. 

Little surprise, then, that many pundits are sticking to their guns and predicting that it’s only a matter of time before Girona’s inexperience at this level and their lack of squad depth eventually catch up with them.

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Modest team

Girona play their home matches at the Estadi Montilivi, a humble venue that can hold just 14,624 spectators. It’s more of a ground than a modern stadium, and some of the stands are propped up by scaffolding.

Armed with a budget of about 20 million euros (S$29.3 million), the club has spent carefully to bring in the players it needs to compete at this level.

Dutch defender Daley Blind and Argentine goalkeeper Paulo Gazzaniga both joined on a free transfer. Ukrainian striker Artem Dovbyk arrived last summer for a reported fee of seven million euros, making him the most expensive player in the club’s history.

Two months ago, Girona scored a major coup by securing the services of Spanish striker Eric Garcia on a season-long loan from Barcelona. Garcia has wasted no time in endearing himself to his new team, and his first goal in Girona’s famous red-and-white jersey was the winner in a 2-1 away win over Villareal on Sep 27. That was the result that sent Girona top of La Liga for the first time in their history.

It’s worth noting, however, that Girona are not as disadvantaged as they seem.

The club’s chairman is Pere Guardiola, the brother of Manchester City manager Pep. Girona is the Spanish outpost of City Football Group (CFG), a 12-team global network launched by Manchester City CEO Ferran Soriano a decade ago and includes the likes of Australia’s Melbourne City, Italian club Palermo and American team New York City. CFG, which is backed by oil money from the Middle East, owns 47 per cent of Girona.

Testing their mettle

While they enjoy life at the top of the table, the main goal is, naturally, to remain in La Liga come next May. The reality is that they are hardly in any relegation trouble at the moment, and it would require a stunning dip in form if Girona were to finish the season outside of the European places.

For Michel and his players, though, they are taking things one game at a time. Their next fixture is the visit of fifth-placed Athletic Bilbao on Monday night (Tuesday 4 am kickoff, Singapore time).

The first weekend of December brings another home game, this time against Singapore’s former remisier king Peter Lim’s Valencia. Girona head to fourth-tier Orihuela for a second-round Copa Del Rey match on Dec 8, just three days before they make the short journey to play 27-time league champions Barcelona at the 100,000-seater Nou Camp.

If they can somehow win them all, Girona’s disbelieving fans can perhaps truly start to dream of shiny trophies and glory and victory parades in the months to come.