After a magnetic display in the League against Espanyol, Girona rubbed its hands and promised them a happy one against the Austrian Sturm Graz, leader in its domestic competition, which, however, had duels due to fiascoes in the Champions League. But Míchel’s team suffered a terrible setback and it is evident that it is not in Europe, that it is also lost in the classification, almost derailed from the competition because it has only won one match out of five – the rest defeats – and it has the Tourmalet left. ahead, Liverpool, Milan and Arsenal. Next to nothing.
1
Daniil Khudyakov, Niklas Geyrhofer, Dimitri Lavalée, Jusuf Gazibegovic, Emanuel Aiwu, Tochi Chukwuani, William Bøving (Stefan Hierländer, min. 89), Otar Kiteishvili, Malick Yalcouyé (Tomi Horvat, min. 64), Seedy Jatta (Erencan Yardimci, min. . 64) and Mika Biereth (Jon Gorenc Stankovic, min. 75)
0
Paulo Gazzaniga, Alejandro Francés (Jhon Solís, min. 72), Ladislav Krejcí, Juanpe, Daley Blind (Arnaut Danjuma, min. 66), Oriol Romeu, Bryan Gil, Miguel Gutiérrez, Iván Martín (Yáser Asprilla, min. 51), Viktor Tsyhankov (Abel Ruiz, min. 72) and Bojan Miovski (Cristhian Stuani, min. 66)
Goals
1-0 min. 57: Mika Bieveth
Referee Rohit Saggi
yellow cards
Jusuf Gazibegovic (min. 19), Bryan Gil Salvatierra (min. 63)
From the beginning, from the kick-off, Sturm Graz showed their roadmap, every time the ball rolled from the midfield towards the goalkeeper and from there the shot followed that was lost over the baseline. Rough and unchewed football, since the Austrian team was not interested in the round to combine it but to send it to the opposite field and deploy with the second plays, also with the counters and the conductions of Bovin, the bullet man, who threw cuts and a couple of shots, one to Gazzaniga’s body and the other twisted. Although he occasionally amassed the ball in defense, the circulation was horizontal and unintentional, with Sturm Graz lacking ingenuity and ability to discount rival lines with the pass. But he didn’t need it, because with the counterattacks and the accumulation of men in attack it was enough to defeat a disoriented rival. Thus, Biereth put the shot to a corner kick and Kiteishvili a volley to relieve the hiccups; slaps to cast doubt on Girona, who had to relocate Iván Martín (he left the game due to Van de Beek’s injury in the warm-up) through the interior corridors to gain strength in the center of the field and try to stifle the rival push. Not even with those.
It happened that Girona also enjoyed phases of sparkling and successful football because it is a signature team, since Míchel is a coach who dignifies his job with work, even though sometimes the weeks are too small for him to play in so much competition. subtract minutes from training to do more bathing and massage, recovery. But time passes and the seeds bear fruit because each match shows its resources, since it starts with a system – last night 4-3-3 – that turns out to be something ethereal and flexible because there are exchanges of positions to occupy the spaces, while making it difficult for rival brands. And the players respond with their evolution, in the case of Miovski in the rival area, Krejci in the axis of the defense and, above all, Bryan Gil who is sweet, because he knows that with the ball at his feet and his dribbling As a dancer he can destroy anyone. Like on that occasion when he won the baseline to give it to Iván Martín, who argued with logic and with Newton, since with the goal empty and almost under the crossbar, he finished with his ankle to send it over the crossbar. Miovski did the same after a cross from Tsygankov and Girona understood that there was no solution.
Bryan Gil persisted on the left side, able to put in another cross that Tsygankov sent to the side of the net. But there was no more spice, perhaps a shot from Stuani, the team had little depth and the last pass, orphaned of a shot even though Míchel put all the forwards on the mat. By then, Sturm Graz had already said theirs in another of their counterattacks, defined by Jatta and a shot that Gazzaniga managed to repel, but completed by Biereth with a pass into the net. A goal, another shot from Girona and the Champions League slipping away, goodbye to the illusion.
