In the run-up to the second leg of the semifinals against Eibar, the Girona coach, Míchel Sánchez, already appealed to legendary events to convince the fans that changing the tie was not impossible. The legend says that Girona is three times immortal, because between 1808 and 1809 the city survived three atrocious sieges that everyone considered lost, except the people of Girona, who never surrendered.
Míchel was referring in this way to the third consecutive opportunity they faced to try to get promotion to the First Division via the playoff, a path never successfully overcome after falling in the final of the last two editions against Elche and Rayo, respectively.
The last hurdle, on this occasion, is Tenerife (first leg today at 9:00 p.m.), who beat Las Palmas in the semifinals. It is, therefore, a new tie between the fifth and sixth classified, a fact that has been repeated in the last two courses and that, curiously, ended with the promotion of who had entered last in the playoff. It is the unequivocal sign that what has happened throughout the season is of little use and that what really matters is how the teams arrive at the most decisive moment of the year.
And after the duel in Ipurua, Girona will do so with morale through the roof although, according to Míchel “the final is at 50%” and the two previous ones this season in the regular phase are not accompanying either, with a defeat by the minimum of the Catalans both in the first round at the Heliodoro Rodríguez López and in the second in the match played in Montilivi.
The fans, discouraged above all by the blows they have suffered in recent years, have become excited again and will once again fill their stadium as they had not done all season. “I don’t know if this time it will be the right one, but what I am convinced of is that everyone will give their best version and we will play in a spectacular atmosphere”, assured the Madrid coach.
The club, in fact, sold out in just over 24 hours the more than 11,000 tickets available and has even had to increase the capacity by 540 seats – through an additional row at the goals – to compensate all the affected members who, initially, they had been left without a ticket due to a computer error, a product of the massive online purchase that had been made in record time.
This has been the way in which the fans have responded to the call made, hours before, by their franchise player, the Uruguayan Cristhian Stuani who, with his goal in the second leg against Eibar, apart from consolidating himself one more year as top scorer in the category, he became the top scorer in the club’s history with 105 goals in the five seasons he has been in Girona. On the other hand, the other scorer from last Sunday, Borja García, will miss the game due to injury, as confirmed by Míchel himself at a press conference.
Tenerife travels to Girona with the absence of the injured Larrea and Alonso, and the loss of the international Psipcic who is concentrated with Montenegro.
