Spanish Championship: Girona takes the lead again with a historic victory over Barcelona

Published in: 10/12/2023 – 23:11Last updated: 10/12/2023 – 23:09

5 minutes

Girona entered the match in second place, one point behind Real Madrid, which tied on Saturday with Real Betis 1-1, and it took full advantage of the Royal Club’s stumble in order to remove it from the lead that it had shared with it, ahead of the only team it beat this season (2- 0 on September 30) by two points.

With its first loss to its humble neighbor, which surprised everyone this season, Barcelona suffered its second defeat of the season and fell to fourth place in favor of Atletico Madrid, trailing coach Mitchell’s team by seven points.

Despite its positive start and reaching its guest’s area several times, Barcelona found itself behind in the 12th minute with a purely Ukrainian goal through Artem Dovbek, who received the ball from a cross by his compatriot Viktor Tsygankov after the latter broke the offside trap, so he shot it from the right post into the net of goalkeeper Enaki Peña.

Brazilian Rafinha was close to equalizing after a long pass from Portuguese Joao Cancelo, but Argentine goalkeeper Paulo Gazzaniga intervened brilliantly to save the situation (18).

However, he quickly bowed down to Polish Robert Lewandowski, who rose high to head the ball coming from a corner kick into the net (19), thus ending his goal drought with the Catalan giant since November 12 and scoring his eighth goal in the league this season.

Girona almost regained its lead when Dovbeck manipulated defenders Danish Andreas Christensen and Uruguayan Ronald Araujo before passing the ball to Miguel Gutierrez, who shot it, but Peña excelled in saving his team (27).

After he missed an opportunity while he was in a suitable position to score by shooting the ball near the left post, Miguel Gutierrez replaced him and put Girona back in front after an individual effort and a shot from the outskirts of the area that Peña was unable to block (40).

Barcelona began the second half looking to return to the atmosphere of the match and was close to achieving its goal with a long shot from Dutchman Frankie de Jong, but goalkeeper Gazzaniga was on time to save his team (51).

Xavi tried to remedy the situation, bringing in the trio Ferran Torres, Lamine Jamal, and Alex Balde, which revived the team, which was close to achieving an equalizer through German Ilkay Gundogan, but his attempt passed close to the left post (68).

Girona dealt the final blow to its neighbor when it added the third goal in the 80th minute through substitute Valeri Estrada after the ball reached him from a header pass by the other Uruguayan substitute, Cristian Stuani.

Despite Gundogan’s success in reducing the difference after a pass from Ferran Torres (2 + 90), Girona withstood the pressure and responded with the decisive fourth goal, which Stuani scored in the fifth minute of stoppage time when the ball stopped at the left post after a cross from Gutierrez, so he put it into the net from A difficult angle with help from Portuguese defender Joao Cancelo.

Atletico third

Atletico Madrid took advantage of Barcelona’s fall to rise to third place on goal difference from the Catalan club, by defeating its guest, Almeria, bottom of the standings, 2-1.

Alvaro Morata scored the first goal (17), Argentine Angel Correa added the second goal (22), while Brazilian Leo Batistão scored Almeria’s goal (62).

Atletico’s victory comes before facing Italian Lazio next Wednesday in the final sixth round of the Champions League group stage, to decide the lead between them.

Almeria failed to achieve its first victory this season, remaining the only team that did not achieve any wins (4 draws and 12 losses) in the five major leagues.

At Ciftas Metropolitano Stadium, the hosts began to press quickly, and Frenchman Antoine Griezmann opened the scoring in the sixth minute, but referee Ricardo de Burgos Bengotesia canceled the goal after returning to the Video Assistant Referee (VAR), due to offside.

Morata returned to score the first goal for Atletico in the 17th minute, after he passed the defender and the goalkeeper to score his eighth goal in the league this season.

Correa added the second goal (22) easily after a cross from Marcos Llorente.

Batistao reduced the gap for Almeria in the 62nd minute, taking advantage of a rebound ball that was blocked by Slovenian goalkeeper Jan Oblak.

The stage was overshadowed by the news of the death of a fan in the stands during the match between Granada and its guest, Athletic Bilbao, which led to a decision to stop it permanently in the 18th minute, when the guest team was leading 1-0, according to what the Spanish Football Federation reported.

Bilbao said in a statement that the league and the two clubs “agreed to suspend the match,” offering its condolences to the relatives of the deceased.

Granada revealed that one of its fans was the victim of a stroke, according to what was reported by the Spanish media.

The League stated that “the date and time for resuming the match will soon be announced,” before later deciding to complete the match on Monday at eight o’clock GMT, starting from the 17th minute.

© 2023 AFP