So much playing at half speed ends up weighing on Girona, who tried to show off even when playing regularly.
Míchel’s system seems so synchronized, so consolidated is it, that his men believe they have enough with a couple of harnesses to defeat the opponent and continue sailing with a tailwind.
Not everything always turns out so well.
True, Girona and it doesn’t matter where he plays, whether in Montjuïc or now in Villamarín, where no one has won in this League. Girona decides to advance and go for miles, and they truly believe it, their coach already says it:
–We have League champion numbers –Míchel commented the day before.
Another thing is that all that euphoria ends up causing short circuits.
–We thought we had it, that Betis goal at the last minute disconcerted us –Aleix García admitted at the end of the day.
(…)
On the pitch, Betis persisted in the first period, encouraged by its forward men (especially Ayoze and Willian José), although Girona did not flinch. How this newcomer plays among the elite, he handles himself like a veteran. This nouvingut with the soul of a leader never loses his composure, not even when the slope slopes, the pursuers press and Willian José, on the Villamarín grass, stirs, unleashes a whip and then shoots again, now in semi-miss.
Not even because of that, Míchel’s scheme is disrupted, this time especially reinforced in the center of the field, with five men and a beacon on the front line, the cyborg Dovbyk.
Dovbyk is a magnet for balls, pivots and even opposing defenders. With the Ukrainian on the scene, Yan Couto and Savinho breathe, knives in the lanes, a nuisance for the rival full-backs, uncomfortable and backwards.
You can distinguish Yan Couto from afar, with that multicolored hair and his comings and goings. What a discovery Girona has made with this Brazilian, as intense in offensive work as he is committed in defense. He helps with the pressure, he opens up to the wing and creates space. And when he receives, he is vertical and deep.
His efforts open avenues for his teammates, and Pablo Torre sneaks in, a man who steps into the area and delivers to Savinho, finally overwhelmed by Ruibal. It would seem that it is Girona’s only clear chance, and Dovbyk makes the most of it. He softly shoots the penalty to deceive Rui Silva and Girona believes they have already done it.
You are wrong. He begins to rest and lets the Betics do their thing.
Savinho gets tangled, hitting the ball at his feet and suffocating, and the dance of substitutions does not help Girona, who lets themselves be carried away by inertia. Betis ends up pressing, Borja Iglesias and Abde enter, efficient in the lane, and Girona retreats so much that they end up getting tangled: when the game is presumed dead, a mess forms in front of Gazzaniga’s door. The fourth, notes Pezzella, the Argentine who says goodbye asking for help for his people from Bahía Blanca, a coastal town that serves as the gateway to Patagonia, today paralyzed and badly injured by a dramatic storm.
Betis: Rui Silva; Bellerín (Ruibal, m.15), Pezzella, Chadi Riad, Miranda; Guardado (William Carvalho, m.46), Marc Roca (Altimira, m.66); Assane Diao, Rodri (Abde, d.66), Ayoze; Willian José (Borja Iglesias, d.66).
Girona: Gazzaniga; Eric García, David López (Juanpe, m.34), Blind; Yan Couto (Valery, m.79), Iván Martín, Aleix García, Pablo Torre (Portu, m.64), Miguel Gutiérrez; Dovbyk (Stuani, d.64), Sávio (Jhon Solís, d.79).
Goals: 0-1, M.39: Dovbyk, penalty. 1-1, M.88: Piece.
Referee: De Burgos Bengoetxea (Basque Committee). He admonished the locals Guardado (m.48) and Marc Roca (m.51), and the visitors Dovbyk (m.43) and Aleix García (m.82).
Field: Benito Villamarín, 51,394 spectators. A minute of silence was held in memory of the Sevillian writer and journalist Antonio Burgos, who died this past Wednesday.