Last week, the coaches who are taking the senior technical course came to the Girona facilities, eager for information and knowledge. Among them was Aday, a Girona leader for many years with his boots on who now directs Europa from the bench. “Do you ever change your mental order of the game?” Aday asked Míchel between complicity and laughter, since he had played under him during the last two years of his career. And the PSV match came to mind for Míchel, the one that was played a little less than a month ago and where the Girona players lowered their heads and spirits, beaten by a rival who overwhelmed them at the Philips Stadium with four goals and football with several decibels higher.
That night, Míchel wanted his team to match the rival in energy and verticality, to make it an exchange of blows. And he was wrong. “I brought out bad pride,” the coach acknowledges; “because I exposed the player to the limit and I could have done something else on a tactical level to protect him. “My team was not prepared for their intensity and talent in a field where they had not lost for two years.” It happened later that the footballers were more than just downcast. “I know that I have exposed you and that the least humble of all has been me. Nothing happens…”, the footballers were encouraged to repeat. Until one replied: “Yes, it happens, they have put four of us in.” And Míchel understood the message, capable of converting the team’s football a little to beat Getafe, aware that the infirmary was saturated and that the team lacked a cooking point to assemble the pieces. One step back to take two strides forward, as seen against Espanyol, when they tore apart the rival, and a recognizable Girona. “This is the Girona that I want to see, spectacular with and without the ball,” decided Míchel – who dared to respond in Catalan to the surprise of the press chief – with his usual overwhelming personality, one of those capable of absorbing all the attention when he speaks on how interesting, deep and even fun the message is.
With many players recovered from their injuries—Krejci, Arnau, Tsygankov, Asprilla, Francés, Ivan Martín…—, even though there are still remnants (Abel Ruiz, Yangel Herrera, Misehouy, Portu and Artero), Girona is once again the protagonist on the mat, capable of stringing together three consecutive victories in the League that have propelled it up the table, one point behind the European places and four behind Villarreal, frontier of the Champions League and next league rival. First it’s time to play in the European elite against Sturm Graz – this Tuesday (6:45 p.m.) on Movistar -, leader of the Austrian Bundesliga and capital duel for the aspirations of a Girona that has only added three points out of a possible 12, still with options to overcome cutting access to playoffseven though Liverpool, Milan and Arsenal are just around the corner. “More than suffering, in this first third of the season we have competed,” Míchel resolves; “And now I want to see if the team is capable of maintaining this level – in reference to the challenge against Espanyol – by playing all three competitions. Because I don’t give up any.”
Nor did Girona give up Eric García, Yan Couto or Savinho in the summer, who went to their mother club after the transfers to the chagrin of sporting director Quique Cárcel, who was more satisfied, however, with million-dollar sales like that of Dobvbyk (30.5 million to Roma) and Aleix García (18 to Leverkusen). A dance that conditioned the team, to the point that it had to be reformulated with 11 new pieces that needed to mature Míchel’s idea of the game. And in those are, already relevant Bryan Gil, scorer Miovski and foreman Krejci from the axis of the defense, also barometer Oriol Romeu. There are still cards to shine more, like Danjuma. “There are players that I need to train more with us. Danjuma is very talented, but he still seems a bit isolated. We don’t give him the ball enough nor does he provide continuity enough,” Míchel reflects out loud. It will be a matter of taking another step. Or another stride. The first, in front of Sturm Graz.
