In the 19th round of La Liga, Girona will host Atletico Madrid and try to keep up with Real Madrid, who are in the lead only thanks to a better goal difference. The match is scheduled for 21:30.
Girona: A Fairy Tale That Continues!
It’s no longer that much of a surprise. It’s not just one good performance; it’s now accepted as reality. Girona is serious, and Girona is genuinely quality. It’s no coincidence that they are at the very top of La Liga, a place where no one, not even they themselves, expected to be.
How long will it last? No one can know, but after a 4-2 victory over Barcelona nearly a month ago – and perhaps even more so the manner in which it was achieved – Girona’s status as Europe’s most pleasant surprise was cemented. Only Bayer Leverkusen can match them in this regard.
Girona has gone ten games without a defeat, as their last – and only one this season – was inflicted by Real Madrid back on September 30th. In the next ten matches, Girona has secured 26 out of a possible 30 points.
In total, they have 45 points, paradoxically, since in August the club announced that this was their goal for the entire season, as projections suggested that it would be enough to stay in the elite. Now, there’s already loud talk of Europe, why not even the Champions League. Fifth-placed Athletic Bilbao is 10 points behind. The title is still a hushed topic, at least in Girona. Others are emphasizing this narrative, perhaps trying to put as much pressure as possible on MÃchel and his team.
After three consecutive triumphs, they drew 1-1 in their last match away at Betis, temporarily ceding the top spot to Real Madrid.
Football logic says – they shouldn’t be able to cope with this. In fact, they shouldn’t even be here. Girona’s budget for wages this season is limited to 51,980,000 euros, gross, while Real Madrid, for example, can stretch up to a limit of 727,450,000. Only six clubs can count on less than 50,000,000, with Girona financially ranked 12th in La Liga.
Last summer, Barcelona, just 99 kilometers away, took their most crucial player, Oriol Romeu, for a modest 3,500,000 euros.
New York City – another club owned by the City Group, which also holds 47% of Girona’s shares – took the best scorer of the Catalan red-and-whites, Taty Castellanos, to Lazio for 15,000,000 euros. Rodrigo Riquelme returned to Atletico Madrid. Starting defender Santi Bueno went to Wolverhampton for 12,000,000 euros, but all this has not shaken this small yet great club that continues to live its fairy tale.
Naturally, the people and fans have returned to the stands. And in a city of 100,000 people, football is once again the talk of the town. No one in Spain is playing it as well as Girona right now. How long will it last? Who knows. The important thing is to enjoy it now.
Atletico Madrid: The Fight is Guaranteed!
A title fight was expected from Diego Simeone’s squad this season, but the former champions have had inconsistent performances. The Rojiblancos can shine, led by the brilliant Antoine Griezmann, but with only two wins in the last five rounds, including two losses and a draw, Girona and Real Madrid have pulled ahead by 8 points.
However, this is no reason to doubt the coach, as Simeone is revered like a deity there. Cholo has achieved the unimaginable, the impossible. In Rotterdam, in Atletico’s clash with Feyenoord as part of Group E’s 5th round, Diego Simeone became only the third coach in history to reach 100 Champions League matches with the same club. The names of his predecessors best illustrate the magnitude of this achievement. At the top are Sir Alex Ferguson and Arsene Wenger.
With Diego Simeone, Atletico Madrid has achieved stability and positioned the red-and-white club as a regular participant in the Champions League. With the Argentine at the helm, Atleti is playing its 11th consecutive season in Europe’s top competition. Before that, the Colchoneros had qualified for the continental elite only eight times in 109 years before Simeone.
Atletico’s record with Cholo in the Champions League speaks for itself – 47 wins, 27 draws, and 25 losses. A total of 149 goals scored and 103 conceded. The Colchoneros have reached the Champions League final twice and were eliminated in the semifinals once. They lost in Lisbon and Milan in cruel fashion, after extra time in the first and penalties in the second. Overall, Atletico has reached the spring phase of the Champions League eight times, establishing themselves as regular participants.
Diego Simeone recently renewed his contract with the Madrid red-and-whites until 2027. At this rate, he will continue to increase his impressive statistics. Cholo is already by far the coach who has led Atletico the most – 644 matches in all competitions, and he is also the most successful with two La Liga titles, two Europa Leagues, a Copa del Rey, two UEFA Super Cups, and a Spanish Super Cup. All in one stint at the club.
In the last match of the previous year, Atletico Madrid defeated Sevilla at home, 1-0, in a postponed match of La Liga’s fourth round. Atletico secured the victory with a second-half goal by Marcos Llorente. Both teams appeared quite defensive in the first half, with only one shot on target each, which was somewhat expected.
Alvaro Morata had the best chance at the start of the match when he faced off one-on-one with Marko Dmitrovic in the third minute, but the Serbian goalkeeper managed to save his shot. There was no change in the score until halftime.
However, at the start of the second half, Marcos Llorente’s entry into the game led Atletico to take the lead. In the 47th minute, he pounced on a rebound from Sergio Ramos and sent it into the net, leaving Marko Dmitrovic powerless. Atletico looked much better in the second half of the match, with Llorente having two more chances, but he failed to double his team’s advantage.
Problems for the home team came in the 70th minute when Caglar Soyuncu received a direct red card for a rough foul.
However, Sevilla failed to capitalize on this, and Atletico secured all three points. With the victory, the Madrid team moved up to third place in La Liga with 38 points, and this match will be very significant for the rest of the season.
Our Betting Predictions
Girona enters this match as a slight favorite, with odds of 2.55 for their win at betBonanza, while the odds for a victory by the visitors from Madrid are 2.80.
We all know that Girona plays very efficient matches throughout the season, but what we are not accustomed to is seeing the same kind of play from Diego Simeone’s team. Therefore, it is expected that this will be a very interesting and efficient match, so first of all, we suggest betting on Both Teams to Score at odds of 1.55 at betBonanza, and the bet Both Teams to Score and Total OVER 2.5 goals at odds of 1.77 also looks very attractive.
For those of you looking for higher odds, we suggest the bet X2 and Total OVER 3.5 goals at odds of 4.10, also at betBonanza.
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