When the ball starts rolling at the Alfredo di Stéfano this afternoon (6 p.m.), Jonatan Giráldez will savor his last classic in charge of FC Barcelona. On June 30, his association with the Catalan team will end and he will head to the United States to lead the Washington Spirit. Looking at the statistics, everything indicates that they will savor it with another triumph, since Real Madrid have still never managed to score in a match against the Catalans.
The Galician coach has led the team in eleven classics so far. There have been all kinds: thrashings, narrow victories, victories that have been worth a League (the 2021-2022), Cup qualifiers, Champions League, with that indelible world attendance record at the old Camp Nou… But of all the games, Giráldez is left with one, the semi-final of last year’s Super Cup. An exciting match in which the Blaugrana were left with one less (due to the expulsion of Paredes in the 59th minute) and achieved an epic triumph in extra time thanks to the goals of Mariona and Salma Paralluelo.
“We spent almost an hour with one player less, but we managed to score two more goals in extra time and that was an important injection of adrenaline, of confidence. It was a turning point in a year in which we won the Champions League”, recalls the Barcelona coach.
In the event of another victory, Barça would be twelve points ahead of the second-placed Whites, which would leave the League title virtually sealed: “It would be a very large distance, but it would not be definitive from the point of mathematical view”, warns Giráldez. And in fact, the coach is aware that his team must stay plugged in since the classic comes in the middle of an important Champions League tie with the open result against Brann (1-2). “They will arrive more rested, but the calendar is what it is. And we are prepared and trained to play every three or four days”, said the coach in the preview.
Real Madrid arrive at the meeting in “a good moment of form”, without losing since December and Giráldez believes that the fact that they have never been able to beat them “will serve as motivation”. Alberto Toril, his counterpart on the white bench, says that the team “arrives strong” and hopes that his team “will be brave”. “Play a practical match and go get them” are the slogans of the Madrid coach who “always modifies something” in the tactical aspect when facing Barça, warns Giráldez.
The Catalan team added a new casualty to Friday’s training with the sprained ankle suffered by goalkeeper Gemma Font, which joins the injured Mapi León and Jana Fernández.
A last dance for Jonatan Giráldez at Di Stéfano with the unknown of knowing who will succeed him on the Blaugrana bench: “It’s always reassuring to know the future, I say this from experience, so you can focus on the competition. Yes, I would like them to already know, but it’s not up to me”, acknowledged the Galician coach.
And in fact, Giráldez is not the only one whose contract ends on June 30 and many of the footballers are waiting to know who the coach will be and his new project to decide their future. This is the case of important footballers such as Mariona Caldentey or Mapi León, in addition to Alexia Putellas, whose renewal was frozen during the months in which she was injured. Time is running out and the club must move quickly if they want to ensure a quiet summer.
