DECRYPTION – Brilliant third in La Liga last season, the Spanish team of Girona FC do not, a priori, have the weapons to repeat the performance or worry PSG.
Girona, first! A member of the City Football Group since 2017, the Catalan club delighted Spain last season, finishing third in La Liga, behind Real Madrid and FC Barcelona, no less. The substance and the form, the results and the manner for Michel’s players, brilliant in the game, seductive and exciting. So here they are in the Champions League. First appearance on the European stage. It will be at the Parc des Princes, this Wednesday (9 p.m.), against PSG. It remains to be seen whether Girona FC has the weapons to repeat a season as brilliant as the previous one and make a good showing in C1. “I don’t have a crystal ball to know where we will be at the end (of the season), but I am convinced that with collective thinking in defense and attack, we will have a great season.”swears Michel, the coach.
Consultant beIN SPORTSOmar Da Fonseca is not convinced. “No. They have lost major players, more than key players, the guy who made the soup on the left Savinho, the scorer Artem Dovbyk, Yan Couto very good on the right, the organizer in the middle Aleix García… Behind, it is an aging team, with David Lopez and Danny Blind at 34, they have a lack of reaction, of tone. They have also lost Eric Garcia, who was unrecognizable last year.”judges the former Argentine striker, affirming that the big weak point of this Girona team is in defense. “Especially since they don’t have a defensive midfielder who scratches, who has dissuasive energy, with scope. Unless they play Romeu. And even then, he has the label of former Barça player but he only has the label and the ink is a little worn.”jokes this connoisseur of Spanish football, at the head of a new show, Extra League.
Da Fonseca was obviously in the front row to see the teammates of former Marseille goalkeeper Pau Lopez, a substitute, take the fall against FC Barcelona (1-4), Sunday, in the championship. Their second defeat of the season after the one against Atlético (0-3). Led by a certain Pere Guardiola, the brother of Pep Guardiola, City coach, Girona also shared the points with Betis (1-1) and beat Osasuna (4-0) and Sevilla (2-0).
To play like that, you need a quality of excellence that was there with the players who left.
Omar Da Fonseca, beIN SPORTS consultant
Certainly, several key players from last season have packed up and left. Other players have arrived, Blind, Donny van de Beek, Yaser Asprilla or Bryan Gil and Arnaut Danjuma. “The one who stayed and who I like, he had a good second half (against Barça), is Viktor Tsygankov, the left-footed winger, when he plays on the right. He is a player who was extraordinary last season.”notes Da Fonseca, not convinced at all. “It’s a team that wants to keep the identity of a playing team, that wants to bring the balls out cleanly from behind, ball at the feet, always on the ground… They have this obsession. But to play like that, you need a quality of excellence that was there with the players who left. Today, there is not a single one at this level, neither Abel Ruiz, nor Alejandro Frances, nor John Solis… They have weakened a lot. And in addition, they are going to play a lot of matches with the C1.”he believes.
And the colorful consultant concludes: “I don’t see them achieving any exploits at all. But they don’t have any weight on their shoulders in terms of results. They’re going to come and visit the Eiffel Tower, the Arc de Triomphe, without too much pressure or hope I think. Even in Spain, I see them finishing in the middle of the table.”It is up to Luis Enrique’s players to prove the former Paris Saint-Germain striker right and ensure that the hierarchy is respected.
