Girona is a young, successful entity. Only two years ago he was fighting against his misfortune in the Second Division. Today, however, it is the great revelation of European football. The team that everyone looks at in amazement, and also admiration. That rare bird whom the ancients discarded for higher levels, while those in the know invite us to be suspicious of its modesty. Because this team has plenty of football, and talent and sharp wingers. And from a knowledgeable technician. But to all this he also adds a secret weapon. When all that fails and nothing works, when the team feels the anxiety under their feet, like against Valencia last Saturday, in Montilivi they know that the one who appears is Cristhian Stuani, Girona’s guardian angel, whenever they need him .
At 37 years old, the Uruguayan striker refuses to abandon the ship he has captained since 2017. Stuani is, through performance and loyalty, the first great idol of a fan that until his arrival had not tasted the First Division. In his seven seasons at the club he has scored 119 goals, with an average of 17 per season. Figures that have elevated him as an idol by right, but that are accompanied by a lot of affection for the club. Because no one will forget in Montilivi that he did not want to go to Barça in 2020, with the team in the Second Division.
He stayed to support the entity through the tough times and monopolized the goal for five years. Girona regained the category and this summer another temptation was presented, this time coming from Saudi Arabia. The time on the pitch was becoming less and less quality, but even so he decided to enforce his contract and not change things. He preferred to work in the shadows on the team’s most ambitious project of his life, now converted into the leader of the locker room.
But the legend of Stuani is not limited to Girona. It is there where he decided to be captain general and become a myth, but his story began much earlier, and he also had enough bitterness before reaching glory.
His first colors were also red and white, at the Atenas Social and Sports Club in the town of Tala, 75 kilometers from Montevideo, where he gave shape to his talent. Twenty years after leaving his home, he knows what it’s like to play for eight teams in four different countries. In all of them the goal marked his path. In fact, he has scored in 18 of his 19 professional seasons and in the last 16 consecutively. And this explains why he is the sixth foreign player with the most goals in Spain (179), behind only Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Benzema, Hugo Sánchez and Di Stéfano and ahead of his compatriot Luis Suárez (176).
“Stuani, Juanpe, Borja and Bernardo pull the locker room and can lead us to make history,” said Míchel after defeating Rayo in Vallecas. “We are fighting with soul and life and we are going to try to continue fighting up there as much as we can,” said the veteran Stuani, smiling after scoring the two goals, the scoresheet also gave him the second, against Valencia. The Uruguayan already sensed this summer that his Girona would become famous and he did not want to miss it. “I don’t think there is anything more beautiful than retiring where you have made history and where people have shown you so much affection.” Love in its purest form.
