Girona stun Barca 4-2 away to restore La Liga lead

BARCELONA – Shock title contenders Girona earned a historic 4-2 away win over rivals Barcelona on Dec 10 to move top of the Spanish La Liga, with coach Michel Sanchez saying he believes his team can beat any opponent.

Girona defeated their Catalan rivals for the first time in the top flight in a pulsating battle to rise two points above Real Madrid, who are second on 39 points after their 1-1 draw at Real Betis a day earlier.

Champions Barcelona are seven points adrift of the leaders in fourth, level with third-placed Atletico Madrid, who beat Almeria 2-1.

Artem Dovbyk sent Girona ahead but Robert Lewandowski pulled Barcelona level, before Miguel Gutierrez slammed home a shot to restore the visitors’ advantage.

Valery Fernandez made it 3-1 and, despite Ilkay Gundogan’s effort, Cristhian Stuani scored to wrap up a stunning victory.

“We’re enjoying the moment, we’re in a hugely positive dynamic,” said Michel.

“I don’t know if we have the ability to win La Liga, but we are able to beat any opponent.”

The defeat left Barcelona’s title defence badly dented.

“They deserved it, they’ve got a lot of merit, they’re seven points ahead of us,” Barca coach Xavi Hernandez told DAZN.

“We want to cut down the gap, this is our reality – this is a Barca under construction, although they have criticised me for (saying) it.

“You take one step back to be able to take two steps forwards.”

Barcelona had 31 attempts in the game, 11 of them on target, but Girona goalkeeper Paulo Gazzaniga pulled off a string of saves while at the other end they scored with four out of their seven shots on target.

Girona, part-owned by the City Football Group, are playing in La Liga for only the fourth season in their history but are now being touted as one of the title contenders.

Former Spain and Barcelona winger Luis Garcia said last week that Girona could win the title, adding that he saw parallels with Leicester City’s unfancied English Premier League-winning team of 2015-16.

He said: “Girona have just come out of nowhere. It’s the new Leicester, right? With Leicester, I remember the talk was exactly the same – ‘Oh, you know, they will drop’.

“Why can’t it be Girona? They don’t have European competition. They don’t have many international players.

“They can rest, they can rotate every week, and they can put out their best XI every single weekend. It isn’t easy to beat this team.

“Will they feel the pressure in the last part of the season? They might. But we said the same of Leicester.”

Meanwhile, Athletic Bilbao’s visit to Granada on Dec 10 was abandoned after a fan died in the stands.

Paramedics had tried to resuscitate a Granada season ticket holder who had suffered a cardiac arrest. 

Inaki Williams had given the Basque side the lead in the sixth minute and the match will resume on Dec 11 from the 17th minute. AFP