Wednesday will see us face a new opponent when we lock horns with Girona, whose fairytale rise through the Spanish pyramid sees them enjoying European football for the first time ever.
It wasn’t that long ago that they were plying their trade in non-league football, but with the growth accelerated by the financial power of the City Football Group, they took La Liga by storm last season in just thei fourth-ever campaign at that level.
Ahead of our meeting on matchday eight, here is what you need to know about our final league stage opponents:
The history
Based in Catalonia in the north-east corner of the county, Girona were founded in 1930 and reached the Segunda Division five years later - Spain’s second tier. They would fluctuate between there and the third division up until the 1970s before their decline continued and dropped into regional football twice in the 1980s and 1990s.
Gradually they began to ascend up the divisions again and in 2008 they returned to the Segunda for the first time in 49 years. After a couple of close calls, in 2017 they finally made it to La Liga by finishing runners-up, and later became part of the City Football Group.
They survived in the top-flight for two years before being relegated in 2018/19, but returned via the play-offs in 2021/22 by beating Tenerife in the final.
The stadium
Girona play their games at the Estadi Montilivi, which was built in 1970. It has an official capacity of 14,624 but due to some of the stands being temporary, it has been restricted to under 10,000 for UEFA matches.
It enjoyed expansions in both 2017 and 2022 as the team tasted success, and its record attendance came back in 2019 when 14,158 crammed in to watch them take on Real Madrid. The ground has also been the host of three international friendly matches, two of which were for the Mexican national side in November 2022.
Last season
An incredible campaign saw Girona enjoy their best-ever start to a top-flight season by topping the table after seven games, and that form just snowballed. They remained at the La Liga summit going into February after just one defeat in their opening 22 games.
While they were eventually overtaken by Real Madrid and neighbours Barcelona, whom they recorded a league double over, they ultimately finished in third spot behind the big two but ahead of Atletico Madrid to record their best-ever finish in just their fourth La Liga campaign and clinch European football for the first time in their history.
The manager
Now in his fourth season at the helm, former Real Vallecano midfielder Michel led his current side into the top-flight, which was the third time he’d achieved the feat. He spent 17 of his 20 years as a player at Vallecano, as well as having short stints at Almeria, Murcia and Malaga.
He moved into coaching in 2012 and five years later he stepped up to become Vallecano’s boss, winning the Segunda in his first full season. After repeating the trick at Huesca two years later, he did so again with Girona two years after that, and last season’s exploits saw him awarded the La Liga Manager of the Year award.
The squad
A host of former Premier League players currently ply their trade with the Blanquivermells. A summer recruitment drive saw Donny van der Beek arrive from Manchester United, as well as Bryan Gil from Tottenham Hotspur. Former Bournemouth man Arnaut Danjuma and ex-Southampton enforcer Oriol Romeu were also loaned from Villarreal and Barcelona respectively.
They joined a squad that also contains Dutch veteran Daley Blind and ex-Spurs shot-stopper Paulo Gazzaniga, but there is some young talent at Michel’s disposal, such as left-back Miguel Gutierrez who joined from Real Madrid and won the Olympics with Spain last year.
Watford striker Yaser Asprilla and Aberdeen’s Macedonia forward Bojan Miovski are also new faces, adding to an attack fronted by 38-year-old captain Cristhian Stuani [above]. He is Girona’s all-time appearance maker (271) and scorer (134), having spent the last seven years at the club following a spell with Middlesbrough.
The season so far
In their first season juggling European and domestic football, understandably Girona have struggled to match last season’s sensational form. They won just three of their opening 11 league matches, leaving them 13th in the table heading into November, but since then they have found some form.
Only defeats to Real Madrid and Mallorca before the winter break helped them climb to eighth, where they currently remain. However since La Liga resumed this month, a 1-0 win against Alaves was followed by a late goal that saw them fall 2-1 to Sevilla, before Real Vallacano struck twice in the final 10 minutes to win by the same scoreline on Sunday.
The Champions League has proven to be a step too far though, as they have been eliminated with six defeats from seven matches, including single-goal losses to Paris Saint-Germain, Liverpool and AC Milan. However, the highlight of this campaign was a 2-0 success over Slovan Bratislava to hand them their first European victory.
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