Girona sprang a surprising late comeback to beat Valencia 2-1 on Saturday and breathe recent life into their shock La Liga title bid.
Trailing to Hugo Duro’s 56th minute strike with below 10 minutes remaining, the Catalan minnows lastly broke down Valencia’s partitions to maneuver provisionally three factors clear on the high of the desk.
Veteran striker Cristhian Stuani levelled after 82 minutes and Cristhian Mosquera turned a cross into his personal web with two minutes to go, with each targets created by Yan Couto crosses as followers at Girona’s tiny Montilivi stadium went wild.
After dropping two factors in a draw with Athletic Bilbao on Monday, Girona appeared poised to fall to solely their second defeat of the season.
“I’m very happy for the team, for the fight that we had with the scoreline against us,” Stuani advised DAZN.
“The team did not let themselves surrender — (Valencia) set up very well.
“We did not stop trying, we locked them in their box and in the end the goals arrived.”
Towering striker Artem Dovbyk missed arguably Girona’s finest likelihood till their late targets within the first minute, with Giorgi Mamardashvili parrying his strike after he lower in from the appropriate.
The Catalans suffered a setback when Yangel Herrera limped off injured and was changed by Pablo Torre, on mortgage from Barcelona.
Ruben Bareja’s properly-drilled Valencia shut down the often free-scoring hosts all through, limiting them largely to half-possibilities.
Dovbyk additionally wasted one other uncommon presentable alternative earlier than half-time, because the Ukrainian ahead tried to flick the ball previous Mamardashvili, who once more denied him.
The Georgian goalkeeper made a tremendous save to thwart Girona playmaker Aleix Garcia within the 54th minute and Valencia shortly reaped additional reward.
Duro intercepted a go on the half-means line, tearing into the empty area forward of him and dinked a cute end over Paulo Gazzaniga.
Baraja threw on extra defenders from the bench to additional frustrate Girona, setting Dimitri Foulquier to man-mark Brazilian winger Savinho, who was beginning to thrive after Michel switched him to the appropriate.
Girona thought they’d a 3rd objective in stoppage time when Savinho blasted house, nevertheless it was dominated out for offside towards Cristian Portu.
In solely their fourth season within the high flight of their historical past, Girona preserve discovering methods to shock.
(This story has not been edited by News18 workers and is revealed from a syndicated information company feed – AFP)
