Girona have Champions League dreams, but how far can they go?

GIRONA, Spain — Something particular is cooking in Girona, and that is does not simply imply the large paella served to supporters exterior their Montilivi stadium earlier than matches.

Last weekend, they got here from behind to beat Valencia 2-1 to stay high of LaLiga, stage with Real Madrid and 4 factors away from reigning champions Barcelona, whom they face on Sunday (stream dwell on ESPN+ at 3 p.m. ET.) There was an inevitability concerning the late objectives from membership legend Cristhian Stuani, the 37-year-old who scored twice within the remaining eight minutes to cancel out Hugo Duro’s opener. The strain had been rising in the way in which it usually does when massive groups chase a recreation in opposition to smaller groups — besides the position of the large workforce right here was performed by Girona, of their second season again in LaLiga, in opposition to Valencia, the six-time champions of Spain and two-time Champions League finalists.

No workforce has recovered extra factors from dropping positions in Europe’s high 5 leagues, and the three received in opposition to Valencia took Girona’s whole to 19. They put on their opponents down, relentless, and persist with their aggressive, attacking soccer come-what-may. “They move you around, they play with you,” Valencia’s Duro stated after the defeat. “They are a magnificent team, and there’s a reason why they are up [at] the top.”

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What is most is spectacular is that that is being carried out on the again of a summer season overhaul. Midfielder Oriol Romeu was signed by Barcelona, loanees Rodrigo Riquelme (Atletico Madrid) and Taty Castellanos (Lazio) returned to their mum or dad golf equipment, whereas defender Santiago Bueno was transferred to Wolves. They have not been missed with Daley Blind, Eric García, Sávio and Artem Dovbyk amongst these to reach and seamlessly adapt to the necessities of spectacular coach Míchel, whose dash down the touchline after Stuani’s winner in opposition to Valencia was one of many pictures of the season so far.

With 38 factors by December, Girona’s preseason goal of LaLiga survival has already been ticked off. Now, there are loftier targets, but with backing from the Abu Dhabi-owned City Football Group (CFG) — which owns a complete of 13 golf equipment together with Manchester City, New York City FC, Melbourne City and Yokohama F. Marinos — is their story as a lot of a soccer fairytale because it seems on first look? ESPN has spoken to a spread of individuals throughout the Catalan membership to be taught extra about their unimaginable rise to the highest of the Spanish pyramid, and the place they go from right here.

Founded in 1930, that is simply Girona’s fourth season within the Spanish high flight. As not too long ago as 1999, they had been taking part in within the regionalised fifth tier in opposition to native Catalan sides in entrance of crowds of 200. It was not till 2008 that they returned to the second tier after virtually 50 years exterior the highest two divisions. In 2017, for the primary time ever, they had been promoted to LaLiga. That identical 12 months, after promotion, CFG bought 44.3% of the membership, a portion that is since risen to 47%.

Girona Football Group — led by Pere Guardiola, Manchester City coach Pep Guardiola’s brother — personal a 16% stake. Pere initially got here into the membership in 2015, serving to them out of insolvency, and he was concerned within the CFG deal. Another 35% has been owned since 2020 by Marcelo Claure, the president of Club Bolivar, a Bolivian facet who’re additionally partnered with CFG. Claure was beforehand concerned with Inter Miami, too. In whole, 13 golf equipment are actually both owned, part-owned or partnered with CFG — they have 5 in Europe, three in South America, and groups within the United States, Australia, Japan, China and India.

“They have organised things much more,” Girona sporting director Quique Cárcel informed ESPN of what CFG have delivered to the desk. “Of course, winning promotion to LaLiga [just before they invested] also helped improve many things. The internal infrastructure has grown a lot. The owners are football people. They have knowledge of the game and have built some really good projects.”

Cárcel, a former skilled footballer, has been on the membership since 2014; in actual fact, nearly all of the Girona hierarchy pre-date the CFG deal. President Delfi Geli, one other ex-pro who represented Girona, Barcelona and was capped by Spain, has held his position since 2015; CEO Ignacio Mas-Bagà joined the identical 12 months. However, the experience from CFG has additionally enabled their rise — notably from the group’s CEO Ferran Soriano, who’s from Catalonia, but additionally from different executives within the organisation.

Despite that, after dropping out of LaLiga in 2019, it took them three years to return. A tenth-placed completed final season was promising, but nobody may have predicted what was to observe.

A smile spreads throughout Míchel’s face as he appears to be like forward to a weekend that would have real implications on the place the LaLiga title does or doesn’t find yourself this season. Joint-leaders Madrid journey to Real Betis whereas Girona make the brief journey to third-place Barça, who’re 4 factors behind the pacesetters after 15 video games. “We should ask [Madrid coach Carlo] Ancelotti who he wants to win,” Míchel grinned in an interview with ESPN this week. “Girona or Barça?”

Míchel is laughing, but it’s more and more changing into a professional query. With only one defeat and 7 factors dropped this season, Girona’s quick begin to the marketing campaign has not slowed down as many predicted. The preseason goal of survival has been changed by European aspirations; beat Barça, and who is aware of the place their ceiling is.

It is sort of exceptional, subsequently, to assume that two years in the past, 10 video games into his profession as Girona coach, Míchel’s job was in jeopardy after simply two wins within the second division. “I always say the team was transmitting a way of playing that I liked,” Cárcel defined to ESPN trying again on that interval. “Results were not reflecting what we were seeing in every game.

“I noticed the gamers had been rising, growing. We believed that the concept and method of taking part in we wished would lead us someplace. I have removed coaches earlier than as a result of I couldn’t see a reference to the gamers or what I wished on the pitch. That was not the case with Míchel and, a couple of months later, we had been promoted.”

Girona are not just co-leaders in LaLiga. They are also the top scorers in the league with 34 goals, ranking highly in nearly every attacking metric. The style of play referenced by Cárcel is often likened to Man City. “The taking part in philosophy could be very related,” defender Eric García, on loan from Barça and a former City player, told ESPN. “We attempt to play out from the again, press as shortly as doable once we lose the ball and play attacking soccer.

“Obviously, from there our opponents are going to have chances because it’s what we expose ourselves to, although we try to minimise them. In that sense, it’s very similar [to City].”

The present mannequin of play was made non-negotiable by Cárcel in 2018, when Eusebio Sacristán changed Pablo Machín. Until now, nobody had executed it at Girona to the extent of Míchel, who has been in a position to decide the brains of his City counterpart Guardiola — and has even been linked as a doable successor on the Etihad Stadium. “[Guardiola] speaks with Michel,” CEO Mas-Bagà stated to ESPN. “They speak about football, of course. When they’re not working, they’re speaking about football as well because they live for the game, both of them. They have a good relationship and have connected well, they speak the same language.”

Attempting to play like City is one factor, but as Mas-Bagà provides, there are different necessities, like the dimensions of a membership’s funds, that usually flavour success extra. “The objective is to consolidate ourselves in LaLiga in the coming years,” he continued. “It is great to be top, we love it, the excitement of writing history … but it’s not an obsession. We are also realistic and [know we] are ahead of where we should be.

“Budgets are often a superb measure. Whoever invests extra often has higher performances on pitch. But additionally good tales like ours, a small membership, can come round when you dare to play in the identical method whether or not in opposition to the underside facet or Madrid or Barça.”

LaLiga’s strict financial rules also ensure Girona don’t overspend. Their spending limit for the current season is €52m, 14th-highest in the league between Rayo Vallecano and Cadiz. That may be a better a gauge of their true place in LaLiga, but there are other advantages to being part of CFG that are not strictly financial. That is perhaps why the Alavés coach, Luis García, said you could not compare the Basque side to Girona when asked if the Catalan club’s success could serve as inspiration for teams like his.

A big hand comes in the form of recruitment. Brazilians Yan Couto and Savio are both on loan from other teams owned by CFG (Man City and Troyes), while they also benefitted from the loan of Castellanos via New York City last season. Yangel Herrera joined the club permanently last summer from City, having previously been on loan. Star midfielder Aleix García is another player whose initial contact with Girona was on loan from City. The list, past and present, goes on and on.

The case of 19-year-old forward Savio, who has scored five goals and set up four more this season, is especially interesting, as he was signed by Troyes in 2022 after being spotted by Cárcel. There has been talk he could be the first to make the move in opposite direction one day, from Girona to City, while Barça are also reportedly tracking him.

“We work 100% internally,” Cárcel explained of how recruitment works. “We have had a relationship [with CFG] now for years, which has enabled our knowledge-base to develop. But choices are made right here 100%. Obviously, we have that aggressive benefit of data about gamers within the group, permitting us to consider gamers, akin to within the circumstances of [Castellanos] or Savio and beforehand Herrera and Couto. That is without doubt one of the aggressive benefits, but the funds we have is marked by LaLiga. We can’t exceed it and we have been working arduous internally to succeed in the place we’re as we speak, in a position to construct a very aggressive workforce on a humble funds.

“Savio … left a big impression and we took the decision to try and sign him, but no one could have expected the impact he’s had. We bet big on him because we believed in him, but he has also surprised us with his performances.”

Girona have been more and more profitable in warding off competitors from greater European golf equipment to land switch targets not linked to CFG, too. Ukraine internationals Artem Dovbyk and Viktor Tsygankov joined for €7.75m and €5m respectively. Netherlands worldwide Blind — beforehand of Bayern Munich, Manchester United and Ajax — additionally signed in the summertime, including expertise alongside the likes of David López and Stuani.

Míchel, who beforehand took hometown Rayo Vallecano and Huesca as much as LaLiga earlier than touchdown the Girona job, was a pull for these gamers.

“We had some good talks about how he sees football, how he wants to play and how he sees me in his way of playing football,” defender Blind informed ESPN. “I was intrigued by that, it felt good. [He] showed a lot of confidence in me and this was something I was looking for.

“You see how we play, [Míchel] needs to play attacking soccer, he needs to dominate the video games, to maintain ball possession. These are all issues I like about soccer as effectively and I feel swimsuit me extra. The mind-set about soccer was much like how I wish to play and the membership gave me lots of confidence by exhibiting their curiosity over an extended time.”

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Míchel moved into the centre of Girona upon taking the job, impressing locals with his decision to learn Catalan. It is a picturesque city, with the multi-coloured hanging houses over the river Onyar ripe for Instagram. The Jewish Quarter and the cathedral were used as locations in the TV series Game of Thrones, and with the beaches of the Costa Brava close by and Barcelona just an hour to the south, it is a tourist hotspot for many months of the year.

However, it’s not traditionally been a football city. Cyclists flock there year-round, and the basketball team has always been relatively well supported, but football? Not so much. With a population of around 100,000, it is not an especially big city, either — two factors that could yet damage Girona’s hopes of growing their fan base.

Scratch a little deeper, however, and you will see that the province of Girona, which encompasses the northern area of Catalonia, has a population of over 800,000. Aside from Barça and Espanyol — who were relegated to the second division last season — there is not a great deal of competition in the region. It all amounts to great potential.

“Being the place we’re for the time being, preventing with the large golf equipment, brings folks on board,” Cárcel said. “We are reaching that little by little. Now, there are a great deal of youngsters on the streets in Girona shirts. Ten years in the past, after I arrived, there have been none. Everyone was in a Barça shirt. That is the place we have to struggle to develop. I see Girona shirts in Barcelona, too. That’s emotional for me. It is de facto necessary and it reveals that we’re now not a workforce on the outskirts.”

Any Girona-Barcelona loyalties will be put to the test on Sunday when the two teams meet at the Olympic Stadium. Barça coach Xavi Hernández has acknowledged Girona are now “direct rivals” in the title race this season, though Girona’s players aren’t allowing themselves to make such lofty claims yet.

“We see it recreation by recreation and the strain shouldn’t be on us,” Blind insisted. “Barça are a fantastic workforce, they have some nice particular person gamers. It will likely be a really tough recreation, but these are the video games you wish to play as a child in opposition to these groups. It will likely be a fantastic match in opposition to nice gamers, nice workforce and we should be at our greatest to get a consequence, we all know that.

“I think Girona is still a small club which is building, we are in a good build up now. I hope the club can continue like this and we should see where we are playing next season. Up until now, we are enjoying the moment. We work hard every week and we try to do our best at the weekend and win every game.”

Cárcel admits qualifying for Europe for the primary time within the membership’s historical past is extra of a goal. “The objective for the season has changed, evidently,” he stated. “We could never have expected that we would have 38 points after 15 games. It’s historic. it won’t happen again because it is so, so difficult.

“The goal now’s attempt to be within the European locations [top seven] as a result of the factors we have make us assume that we can struggle for that. That’s the place we’re, fascinated with the following recreation, Barcelona, but additionally that the ultimate goal must be to struggle for every part. Right now, we have to assume that Europe is an goal.”

A top-four finish and Champions League qualification could throw up an interesting quandary for CFG. Asked if both Girona and City, under the CFG umbrella, would be allowed to compete in Europe’s elite competition should they both qualify, a UEFA spokesman referred ESPN to Article 5 of the Champions League regulations. The legislation states “no particular person or authorized entity might have management or affect over multiple membership collaborating in a UEFA membership competitors.” That would suggest it would not be possible, but both FC Salzburg and RB Leipzig [owned by Red Bull] found a way around the wording and while the cases are different, CFG would perhaps take optimism from that precedent.

“I’m not an knowledgeable in that space but clearly if that occurs in the long run, and we end within the high 4, which will likely be actually tough, but I feel that if Girona obtain that then, sure, we will likely be taking part in within the Champions League subsequent season,” Cárcel informed ESPN.

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While they are very much in the race for Champions League football this season, though, competing on a yearly basis is perhaps impossible with the current infrastructure. They are finally starting to outgrow Montilivi, their 13,000-seater stadium that shakes in the wind, while the first-team training base, as beautiful as the location is with mountain views and neighbouring a PGA golf resort, is effectively one pitch and a few portable cabins. The academy and the club’s other teams train elsewhere.

“When the brand new house owners got here in, we marked some aims,” Mas-Bagà detailed. “The first was to be sustainable and worthwhile as a enterprise. Next, to be a platform for the event of younger expertise …Then, to be references commercially and socially … The final one is enhance all of the membership’s infrastructure.”

Mas-Bagà has a belief that every little helps in the pursuit of excellence, inherited from CFG CEO Soriano, so a new training centre and improved stadium will only add to the personnel already in place.

“We are all cogs in a machine,” he added. “I prefer to put it like that as a result of all of us contribute in order that the ball goes in. As Soriano’s guide is titled, ‘The ball doesn’t go in by probability.’ We attempt to improve the chances [of success]. From behind the scenes, we push in order that the gamers, the coach, the sporting director all have it slightly simpler to realize the aims. In this case, that’s to win every recreation, which has taken us to a spot within the desk the place we might by no means have imagined being.”