Barcelona was the Spanish league champion final season. Now it’s simply the second-greatest group in the Catalonia area.
Girona has upstaged its far more widespread regional rival up to now, successful 12 of 15 video games to sit down atop the desk stage on factors with Real Madrid.
Barcelona trails the main pair by 4 factors earlier than it welcomes Girona at its Estadi Olimpic residence on Sunday.
In simply its fourth season in the highest-flight, Girona is the undisputed shock facet in Spain and turning heads throughout Europe. Coach Míchel Sánchez has a gaggle with no stars main the league in scoring with 34 targets, another than Madrid and 5 greater than Barcelona. Ukraine striker Artem Dovbyk together with his seven targets leads a group that has 12 gamers scoring no less than as soon as.
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Girona is partly owned by Manchester City’s Abu Dhabi possession. However, its wage cap is just the thirteenth greatest in the 20-group league topped by Madrid’s 727 million euros ($795 million). Barcelona, which has been hit by monetary hassle in current seasons, is allowed to spend 270 million euros ($290 million) on its group salaries, the third greatest.
Girona’s solely loss got here in September to Madrid by 3-0. Last spherical, it fought again with two late targets to beat Valencia 2-1 at residence.
Its breakout season comes after fellow Catalan membership Espanyol, based mostly in Barcelona metropolis, was relegated to the second division. So the group that attire in pink and white is poised to no less than grow to be the second strongest facet in the comparatively rich Catalonia area close to France.
But as Girona CEO Ignasi Mas-Bagà lately advised The Associated Press, their goal is to develop and consolidate as a prime-flight membership, not displace Barcelona, a group that has hundreds of thousands of followers across the globe and is near being a faith inside Catalonia.
“We don’t want to compete with Barcelona (for fans). Not at all. I believe we would be making a mistake if that were our strategy,” Mas-Bagà stated. “But we do want to be a club that is not divisive, that has a friendly face, and has a different approach to being close to supporters.”
No matter the results of the regional derby this weekend, Girona will nonetheless be forward of Barcelona when it begins its two-hour journey again residence.
Barcelona is in want of the win to make sure it retains in contact with Madrid and Girona.
Iñaki Peña can be in aim for the defending league champions for a fourth straight recreation after Marc-Andre ter Stegen was sidelined by a again drawback that requires surgical procedure. Peña made some huge saves in a 1-0 win over Atletico Madrid in the final spherical.
Girona can be with out midfielder Yangel Herrera, who the membership says can be out for six weeks with a muscle harm he picked up in opposition to Valencia.
Two Barcelona gamers are on mortgage at Girona, teenager Pablo Torre and defender Éric García. But Girona received’t be capable to subject Torre in opposition to Barcelona, attributable to a clause in his mortgage contract that claims he can’t play in opposition to the membership that owns his rights. García can be obtainable since his mortgage deal didn’t embody such a clause.
Madrid visits Real Betis on Saturday with a number of injured gamers unavailable for Carlo Ancelotti.
Defender Dani Carvajal was added to Madrid’s harm listing this week with a calf harm that’s anticipated to sideline him till subsequent yr. He joins Thibaut Courtois, Éder Militão, Eduardo Camavinga, Vinícius Júnior, and Aurélien Tchouaméni. Ancelotti says he hopes to have the injured Luka Modrid again in time for Betis.
Fourth-placed Atletico hosts final-positioned Almeria on Sunday aiming to remain near the highest groups. Atletico additionally has one other recreation in hand.
(This story has not been edited by News18 employees and is printed from a syndicated information company feed – Associated Press)
