Girona set for biggest test of title credentials against Real Madrid
Girona are competing in the fourth top-flight season in the club’s history, and just that scenario felt unlikely just two years ago, when Girona struggled to a sixth-place finish in the second tier but managed to surprise everyone in the promotion play-offs.
But no one could have expected the Catalan club to follow up their 10th place last season by soaring past the likes of Atletico Madrid and Barcelona in this campaign - they currently sit eight and six points behind Míchel Sanchez’s men respectively.
With 15 games to go, Girona are in second place with 56 points, already their highest points tally in LaLiga, and a win in their visit to Real Madrid on Saturday evening would even see the minnows return to the top of the league.
Girona are the most prolific team in the Spanish top flight, scoring 52 goals in their 23 league games this season. A magnificent start of the season - grabbing 19 out of a possible 21 points in the first seven rounds - was firmly ended by a crushing 3-0 defeat at Estadi Montilivi, against Real Madrid.
Los Blancos are currently still the only side to beat Girona in LaLiga this season, meaning they are unbeaten in the competition since that loss, winning 11 and drawing four of their last 15 league games.
A spectacular 4-2 win away to Barcelona has shown Girona are capable of beating the bigger teams, but are they currently better prepared for league leaders Real Madrid?
Girona manager Sanchez, born in Madrid, has successfully implemented a slow and intricate playing style since his appointment in 2021. A style reminiscent of the heyday of Spanish football between 2008 and 2012, when the national team won three consecutive major titles, playing their famous 'tiki-taka' football.
On average, only the open play sequences of Real Madrid (4.9) and Barcelona (4.7) consist of more passes than Girona’s sequences (4.3) in LaLiga this season. The average duration of a sequence of Girona in the league is 12.4 seconds, the third longest only after Barca (13.7 seconds) and Real Madrid (13.6 seconds) which again shows Míchel’s side are very patient in setting up their attacks.
Only Real Madrid have recorded at least as many build-up attacks in LaLiga this season (127) as Girona (87), who manage to stay ahead of Barcelona in this ranking (86 build-up attacks).
Probably the most impressive is seeing Girona convert nine of these build-up attacks into a goal, the highest tally in LaLiga this season and more than the two usual suspects combined, Real Madrid and Barcelona each only have four.
In fact, only Bayern Munich can match Girona’s tally in the top-five leagues and with three table-topping sides in Xabi Alonso’s Bayer Leverkusen (7), Luis Enrique’s Paris Saint-Germain (7) and Simone Inzaghi’s Inter (8) completing the top five - Míchel and his men are in good company.
Real Madrid should keep the opposition far away from their goal next Saturday, as it’s safe to say Girona only need half a chance to find the back of the net.
Compared to all other teams in Europe’s five biggest competitions this season, Girona are the side with the best shot conversion rate, scoring with 17.5% of their attempts in LaLiga (52 goals, 297 shots).
Next to that, their +11.2 overperformance on Expected Goals – 52 goals from 40.8 xG – is the biggest positive difference among all sides in the top five leagues as well. Real Madrid tops Girona on most of the offensive stats, but scoring goals seems to be the Chef’s Special in Catalonia.
When further examining the players behind the impressive goalscoring form of Girona, Ukrainian top scorer Artem Dovbyk and Brazilian youngster Savio catch the eye. The latter has provided a joint league-high seven assists, sharing the top spot on the assist rankings with Real Madrid’s Toni Kroos.
Savio, aged only 19 years and playing his first full season at the top level, is the only teenager with at least 10 goal involvements in Europe’s top 5 leagues this season (12 – seven goals, five assists). Even more impressive is Savio’s Expected Assists tally compared to all other players in Europe: his 7.03 open play xA being the best among all players playing in the highest divisions of England, Italy, Germany, France and Spain this season.
With five of Savio’s seven assists in LaLiga coming after a ball carry (travelling 5+ metres with the ball at his feet), Savio’s most important weapon is obvious: dribbling.
Only Leroy Sane (76) and Matías Soule (70) completed more dribbles than Savio (62) in Europe’s five biggest leagues this season. In a team that prides itself on slow and intricate build-up play, it is Savio who adds a jolt of unpredictability, as he completed 25 dribbles more in the opposition half (45) than any other Girona player. Real Madrid’s defenders have been warned.
Savio’s emergence comes off the back of only receiving 94 top-flight minutes of football last season on loan at PSV Eindhoven and he is not the only Girona forward finding some form of redemption in 2023-24.
Dovbyk started the season as one of Míchel’s substitutes, but it took him fewer than 10 minutes to score his first LaLiga goal (subbed on in minute 64 on MD1, goal in minute 72).
It took him another three substitute appearances to convince Míchel of his starting credentials. But since his first start in the competition in mid-September, Dovbyk has not looked back. He was directly involved in 18 goals in 17 starts in the top flight, scoring 13 and assisting five more.
His total of 14 goals in LaLiga is only matched by Jude Bellingham, which begs the question: who tops the goalscorer charts and La Liga table after Saturday night?