Spanish Leicester? Girona entertain with their attacking play and continue to dominate the league. What is behind the club’s current rise and success?

Girona recorded another win on Saturday at Vallecano – their eleventh league win of the season and that means one thing. Even before the national break, they remain in first position two points ahead of Real Madrid. Can we count them as an aspirant to win the league title?

Big shock and surprise. That’s how we could define the view of the current Spanish league table, which is experiencing the unthinkable for many years. In first position after thirteen rounds played, there is a different team than the one from Madrid or the more famous selection from Catalonia.

Girona have flown into the current campaign in style and are sending a clear message – count us in. Its positioning is not the work of chance, but the great work of the coaching team led by head coach Michel.

Thirteen games, eleven wins, one draw and one loss. The latter came at home against Real Madrid, who at that moment replaced Girona in first position. But that’s not the end of the superlatives. The Catalan club is also first in the number of goals scored. They have thirty-one goals to their credit. Three more than Real Madrid, five more than Barcelona and two more than Atletico Madrid.

These numbers show and confirm one thing. Girona play a very attacking and fast style. Their dominance is confirmed by the fact that in all but one league game, they have had the ball on their hoof for more than 50% of the game time.

The club’s style of play and reinforcements

They use a 2-3-5 formation when attacking, with central defender Daley Blind moving into the central midfielder position. Girona then focus on playing on the right side of the pitch, which creates more space for left winger Savio, who has more space to attack thanks to the positional play of his Dutch teammate.

This play is strikingly reminiscent of Manchester City’s formation, which makes extensive use of the defensive midfield position. Consequently, in Girona’s case, the problem arises when the ball is lost, as the opponent can take advantage of their moment before the defending players return to their positions.

The Catalan club is showing that it doesn’t always take big investments to achieve such a dramatic rise. If we take into account incomings and outgoings, they invested just four million euros before this season. The most costly transfer was the arrival of Artem Dovbyk, which cost the club less than 8 million euros.

Can Girona shock the football world and attack the top spot? It is certainly too early to draw such conclusions. However, the club’s current playing form and standing means that it can cause significant problems for its more famous counterparts.

The fact that they can only focus on one single competition may also play into their hands. Whereas both Real Madrid and Barcelona are fighting on multiple fronts. Especially in the case of the more famous Catalan club, there may be a problem the moment the club’s squad grows. Barcelona simply don’t have such a wide squad at the moment, and we have already witnessed this year a difficult gluing of the line-up with not enough support from the bench during matches.

A similar problem may arise in the case of the White Ballet. Girona could use the lesser workload to their advantage. The quality of their alternatives cannot yet be compared to Real Madrid, but if the players in the starting eleven stay healthy, they could just trouble their counterparts with a one-match-a-week schedule.

Part of the City Group

Girona have been in the top flight since the 2017/2018 season and since 2017 they have been part of the City Football Group. That is, a club grouping that is eighty-one percent owned by the Abu Dhabi United Group.

This group includes clubs such as Manchester City, Melbourne City, Mumbai City, New York City, Montevideo City Torque, Troyes, Lommel, Sichuan Jiuniu, Yokohama F. Marinos, Palermo, Bahia and Girona.

All of these clubs can benefit from one of the basic philosophies. Mutual support between clubs through combined scouting or loaning footballers.

Whatever the outcome of the current season, one thing is clear. Girona are on the rise and finishing in the cup ranks would be the right step for them to go even further in the future. Higher revenues, whether from cups or advertising, could mean more investment in the club and a continued upward trajectory. As success increases, so will the interest of the general public and may attract greater sponsorship opportunities.

Now it is up to Girona to take the chance and continue in the right direction. Certainly, the season is at its beginning and tougher tests are yet to come. But football has shown us several times how crazy it can be.

Source: Livesport, Transfermarket, Wikipedia