Girona could have practically said goodbye to the runners-up position in this historic season after suffering the second defeat of the season at home against Villarreal. A solitary goal from Traoré in the second half of a tied game but in which the people of Girona deserved something more keeps the groguets alive in their goal of playing in Europe next season.

And Míchel presented a gala eleven. Very titular. Without rotations to give rest to those who accumulate more minutes. In fact, at the last minute only Yan Couto was missing, affected by a viral process and who did not recover in time, and Arnau, who was absent due to an accumulation of yellow cards after the Competition Committee rejected the appeal presented by Girona on the same day. afternoon of the game.

Thus, Dovbik and Sorloth – the two top scorers in the League with 20 and 19 goals respectively – focused much of the attention of the 11,500 spectators who, despite the night schedule on a weekday, gathered at Montilivi to continue celebrating that Girona is Champions territory.

Precisely Sorloth, before 5 minutes, already warned with a cross-shot from the left that Guedes could barely reach while Baena, on his return to Girona, showed off his quality with a shot from the front . Villarreal had come out better and Girona could not create danger with static and very predictable attacks. It wasn’t until almost half an hour when Tsygankov had the first clear shot, finishing off a good personal action by Savinho.

Minutes later, the Brazilian once again made the audience get up from their seats with another skillful action inside the area that almost meant the first.

Dovbik could have also scored after a filtered pass but Jorgensen was inspired to continue keeping a clean sheet against a Girona team on the rise.

At the restart, the tone did not change and while Míchel’s team dominated the game and possession, Marcelino’s team waited for their opportunity with some counterattack, like the one Traoré had in the 60th minute. With fortune in his face, the African He collected a rebound in the area to beat Gazzaniga and score the only goal of the game. That point of fortune was missing right after for Tsygankov when his missile from outside the area crashed into the crossbar. Or in the triple chance that the people from Girona had in the following action and that Cuenca saved from the goal line.

With this siege, it seemed like a matter of time before Girona ended up scoring but this time the Portu effect as a catalyst did not work.