And so to the Estadi Montilivi for our final game in the league phase of the newly-formatted UEFA Champions League.
The glaring red but compact Catalonian home of Girona FC nestles beside the rather non-descript concrete modernism of the Montilivi campus of the city’s public university, some 3 kilometres south of the city’s colourful old quarter. The stadium seats barely 14,000 and is restricted to 10,000 for UEFA games, so there will be only 500 travelling faithful.
In terms of elite sport, Girona has, until recently, been recognised more for professional cycling than football. The club is five years away from its centenary, yet you can count its seasons in La Liga on one hand. Its UEFA club coefficient ranks ninth among Spanish clubs and 97th overall.
Girona FC was founded on the 42nd birthday of Raymond Chandler, July 23, 1930. It rose from the financial wreckage of Unió Deportiva Girona, which had collapsed the year before under the weight of its debt. UD Girona had been heir to one of the city’s first football clubs, FC Gironí, later Strong Esport.
Starting in the second tier of the Catalan Championship with two-thirds of its team drawn from what had been UD Girona’s youth side, the new club made it to the second division of the national Spanish league by the 1935-36 season. They qualified for the playoffs in their first season but missed out on promotion to La Liga.
It was a high water mark. The Spanish Civil War and World War II caused the waters to recede rapidly and far. By 1959, the club was in Spanish football’s third tier. In 1970, it left its original home, Vista Alegre, for the newly built Estadi Montilivi, 2 kilometres to the south. For years, the new stadium hosted third and fourth-tier football and, for three nadiral seasons, regional league football.
It was not until 2008-09, after back-to-back promotions, that the club returned to the Segunda Division, 49 years after being relegated.
New ownership came in 2010, when three local businessmen, led by Ramon Vilaró, a bar owner turned arcade gaming machine entrepreneur, bought the club. After several near misses, Girona finally won the jackpot, getting promoted to La Liga for the 2017-18 season. It had taken it 87 years.
Right at the start of Girona’s first La Liga season, the club announced that Abu Dhabi’s City Football Group (CFG) — yes, that C115y football group — and the Girona Football Group, led by Pep Guardiola’s brother, Pere, had bought matching 44% stakes. Guardiola sold much of his in 2020 to the Bolivian-American businessman Marcelo Claure, who owns Club Bolívar in his homeland and 10% of CFG’s New York City FC in his other homeland. Girona’s ownership is now CFG 47%, Claure 35% and Girona Football Group 16%. Pere Guardiola remains chairman.
Girona lasted only two seasons in the top flight, not returning until two seasons ago when it finished 10th. To the surprise of many, it came third last season, doing the double over Barcelona and qualifying for the CL.
CL football has perhaps come too soon. Girona has lost six of their seven matches, although five by the odd goal, including the games against PSG, Liverpool and AC Milan. Yet, despite an xG of 5.9, they have not scored since Match Week 3 and cannot make even the playoff round.
The opposition
Manager Míchel Sánchez spent most of his playing career with Rayo Vallecano, where he got his coaching start before moving to Huesca. He has been in charge of Girona since July 2021.
His starting 4-2-3-1 morphs into a diamond or box midfield, with the wingers playing high and wide when Girona is building with the ball. Once the press is broken, the team shifts to 3-1-5-1 with one of the full-backs, usually the left-back, inverting and playing high. Thus, most of the play goes through the middle, with the wingers cutting in to attack the half-spaces and lots of rotations in the automatisms. The backline plays high, and the team is happy to recycle the ball patiently to maintain possession. Without the ball, Girona drops into a 4-4-2 low-block.
If that sounds familiar, it is. We see it week in and week out.
There will also likely be a few familiar faces on parade for the Blanquivermells (that’s your actual Catalan for red and whites).
Paulo Gassaniga, who won a cap for Argentina in 2018, is the preferred glove-butler. He has been on the books of Gillingham, Southampton, the neighbours and Fulham, from whom he joined Girona on a free in the summer of 2023. He hurt his back in Girona’s weekend defeat to Rayo Vallecana, with Pau López, who spent 2016-17 with the Marshdwellers’ U-21s, coming on for his league debut. Gassaniga is 50/50 to play against us.
Chechia international Ladislav Krejčí arrived from Sparta Prague last summer. He has been an ever-present at left centre-back but will likely miss this game with a hip injury. Míchel will have to choose two centre-backs from three 30-somethings: Daley Blind, who has more than 100 caps for the senior Dutch side and four years at the Old Toilet on his resume but is also an injury doubt; David Lopez, who came up through the ‘other’ Barcelona club, Espanyol; and Juanpe, who has played most of his football in the second tier with Girona and Racing Santander.
Flanking them will likely be Spain U-21 international Arnau Martínez on the right and former Spain U-21 Miguel Gutiérrez, reportedly an Amorin target, on the left. The latter, however, is also an injury doubt. Yet another former Spain U-21 international, Alejandro Francés, who is 22 and can play across the back four, could come in if Martinez is out, although Blind also plays left-back.
Venezuelan international Yangel Herrera, now at his third CFG club, will likely be one of the double pivots if fit; he has a well-used collection of sick notes. Oriol Romeu, another of Girona’s thirty-somethings, is expected to be the other. Romeu came through Barcelona’s youth ranks and was sold to Chelsea in 2011, where he hardly played. He was offloaded to Southampton, where he made over 200 Premier League appearances. Girona now has him on loan from Barcelona.
Míchel has numerous options for the central and attacking midfield roles, including another Dutch international and Manchester United castoff, Donny van de Beek, and Spaniard Iván Martín. Either could drop back if Herrera is unavailable. For the wings, there’s Yáser Asprilla, a 21-year-old with eight Colombian caps who enjoyed, if that is the word, a couple of seasons at Watford in the Championship; Viktor Tsygankov, a seasoned Ukrainian international, the veteran Portu, now on his second spell at the club; and the Nigerian born former Dutch international Arnaut Danjuma, who has done time with Bournemouth, the neighbours and Everton, accumulating 37 PL appearances. Bryan Gil, the 23-year-old Spanish international on loan from the neighbours, is suspended.
Up front, Michel has struggled to settle on a replacement for Artem Dovbyk, sold to Roma for €30 million in the summer. Cristhian Stuani, the club’s captain and record goalscorer, is its leading goalscorer in La Liga this season. However, he has only four, all as a substitute, and the former Uruguay international, who had a couple of seasons with Middlesborough almost a decade ago, one in the PL, is 38.
Abel Ruiz, 14 years Stuani’s junior, has three. Another Barca youth product, Ruiz has a couple of caps for Spain, but the last one came in 2021. He is one ahead in the goalscoring stakes of Bojan Miovski, bought from Aberdeen in the summer, the canny Caledonians selling the North Macedonian for ten times the €650,000 they paid for him.
The Arsenal
With one foot in the knockout round, I expect Arteta to rotate but have the heavy brigade on the bench. A point guarantees progress, but Arteta will want to win because he always does, and the higher we finish in the table, the more advantageous our starting point in the brackets for the knockout rounds should be. Thus:
Raya
Timber, Saliba, Kiwior, Calafiori
Jorghino, Merino, Nwaneri
Sterling, Trossard, Martinelli
Girona will attack and create chances but be vulnerable defensively. Forty goals scored and 44 conceded in 30 games in all competitions tell their own story. Similar styles will cancel each other out to an extent, but we should manage to blank the Blanquivermells for a routine 2-0 win. However, Girona will want to sign off their first CL campaign in style in front of their fans.
Michael Oliver will be on the whistle in Catalonia this week, but, thankfully, down the road in Barcelona. “Es tracta de tu’ is the catch of song that Barca and Atalanta fans will need. The Italian Maurizio Mariani has our game. I hope that is the last time you need to know his name.
Enjoy the game, ‘holics, near and far.
As always a great preview Ned. But I’m sorry we cut short the celebrations.
49, 49 Lewis Skelly!
49, 49 I say!
49, 49 Lewis Skelly
Playing football the Arsenal way!
It’s just a guess but I’d say “Es tracta de tu” may mean “It’s all about you” in Catalan. The monks must have gone to Montjuic and back to dig up all those juicy morsels in that preview, Ned. Rarely if ever has a preview featured so much discussion of the Spanish lower leagues, but Girona and CFG have appeared as if from nowhere on the CL landscape.
I haven’t managed to figure out the connection to Farewell My Lovely but perhaps one of the other drinkers will spare Ned the need
Got to say the MLS card has totally united the fans. Been to Wolves many times including last Saturday and it’s normally not the best singing ground because of the weird lay out. But Saturday we were very, very loud, and angry. So satisfying to get the three points and the card overturned.
Another super preview Ned. Those monks have been labouring hard to uncover some very detailed information.
Bt8
The reference to Raymond Chandler’s birthday explains the ‘ Farewell my Lovely tagline .
I suspect we might see Benny Blanco on the bench and we could play Calafiori and Kiwio4 at CB with Zinchenko or Tierney at LB . I’d also play Neto in goal and might give some minutes to Butler – Odeyeji but I’d load the bench . I suspect this might end in a 0-0 draw but whatever we will qualify comfortably unless Michael Oliver gets to tamper with the draw!
Sunday is a ver6 important game so we hope Brugge extend C115y and hopefully eliminate them
As ever, your preview is a cornucopia of information and of superb educational value, Ned. As someone who has constantly mixed Girona up with Genova, your detailed history of the club’s past travails may have rectified that failing. I have seen it suggested that the thugs in that team may try to soften us up for their fellow Shitteh Group club whom we face at the weekend. On that basis I approve your suggestion that Gabriel, Rice, Ødegaard and Havertz are rested but I am sure that whoever plays will be made to put in a shift if only to tire us out. Hopefully the cautionary prognostication to prepare for violence will prove unnecessary. 2-0 will do nicely. I am sure MA8 will go for a victory.
BT8, Raymond Chandler wrote Farewll My Lovely. I will leave you to review the text and make the connection.
Thanks Ned, outstanding research into the dusty reaches of the football cellar, the monks certainly deserve a big sleep for their efforts. I actually remember a few of their players, Stuani was a limited centre forward in Chemical City, as was Romeu, a kicky midfielder for Soton. Blind, Danjuma, Gil I won’t comment on as it would be unkind.
I should also say I am amazed and impressed that they managed to qualify for the CL and the manager has done an outstanding job making something far greater than the sum of its parts.
Also it is just wrong that Cheaty are allowed to own another team in the CL when they are playing in it, but that’s a whole other topic.
Great news on MLS, at least the blind aren’t leading the blind. Fine statement from MA on online abuse as well, offering a welcome and wider perspective.
I think the vast majority of us can agree that we really need to find ways to combat online abuse, though of course that shouldn’t distract from other issues or be used as a smokescreen by the morally compromised to hide the shortcomings of the corrupt.
Like your team Ned, though we might see MLS or Zin start.
Sterling plus the two least tired forwards I will leave MA!
Fact-filled and fun as ever, NBN! Thanks.
bt8@3: The “Farewell, My Lovely” ought to be the Raymond Chandler reference, as Girona was founded on the 42nd birthday of America’s favorite noir novelist. I think monks had a few more glasses of Chartreuse than their usual habits. Can’t blame them, given how cold it has been in the northeast lately.
NBN, if I may, the Israeli born Ukrainian playing for Girona would ideally like to spell his name as Viktor Tsyhankov, with an h and not g. I am sure the monks wouldn’t mind me mentioning this. 🙂
Let’s win this one. And maybe get Sterling into some kind of form.
Cheers Ned. Excellent, as always.
I second OM’s thoughts about City Group owning two clubs in the same competition. I have no idea how this is allowed, but it absolutely should not be.
Like TTG, I’d play Neto and give Butler-Odeyeji some minutes. I’d play Sterling too and definitely Merino against a side whose style he will know well. I’d try to keep Havertz’s minutes down, as he will be vital against City on Sunday.
I’d love a clean sheet, and preferably a goal or two to get us the three points. I believe that would be useful for seeding in the next round.
The transfer window is open until Monday evening, and the club will be busy in these last few days. A signing or two could make a huge difference at this stage of the season.
We could also do with a warm weather break.
If we get three good results, sign two players and get the squad away for some r and r, then how good could things be looking in a month’s time?
Everything crossed.
UTA!
TWO signings, GSD??? You’re not asking for much! I think it will be a major achievement if we can get a solitary decent versatile forward in! Another Trossard type signing, given our circumstances, even as old as him, would fill that gap.
Even as a loan or even especially as a loan without an obligation. There must be a half decent forward cooling his heels on a European bench that would jump at the oppu!
Well Baff, I agree that I we need one forward signing.
The second signing would be lad Nypan. I won’t be miserable if he chooses to sign somewhere else, but he looks like an interesting player at a good age and a good price, so I’d prefer him to take up our offer and be the second signing. We’ve already done the legwork and made our pitch, so if he wants to join then it shouldn’t mean too much additional work. Obviously, if he chooses not to then we don’t need to look for a replacement signing.
But either way, we need a forward player.
Ned, amazing depth in the preview as always.
Many thanks for the updated Predictathon – the form chart is a great idea !
And a reference at the end of the last bar to Polari ! One word for that – Bona ! Or knowing them, possibly Boner ! 😉
Thanks, all, for the kind words. An interesting club to learn about. We shall probably be coming up against more of its like with the spread of multi-club ownership, on which more later.
bt8@3: The editors selected the image. As others have noted, it refers to a Raymond Chandler story, but the added twist is that it is in the Catalan national colours. Where else but here would you find that level of cultural nuance on a football blog?
Dr F@10: UEFA has the name recorded as being spelt with a ‘g’, so I took that as the authoritative version. The monks thank you for your concern given the recent brass monkey weather but would reassure you that their internal insulation has proved adequate.
OM@7: UEFA cleared the Citeh/Girona conflict of interest question after some typical flim-flammery. City Football Group parked 17% of their shareholding in Girona into a blind trust, so the bit they can directly vote was reduced to the 30% threshold UEFA defines as giving influence over a club’s affairs. Also, the three Citeh-linked directors resigned from Girona’s board. They were replaced by three partners from a Cheltenham law firm, Wiggin Osborne Fullerlove, which is not, as you might first take it, a firm of country solicitors but a legal boutique with London offices specialising in bespoke services to high-net-worth international clients. I’ll say no more.
Arsenal’s list of misfortunes is long enough to derail a season. And yet… https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6094434/2025/01/29/arsenals-list-of-misfortunes-is-long-enough-to-derail-a-season-and-yet/?source=user_shared_article
The list of misfortunes at the start is quite amazing when you see them piled up together
Superb preview, Ned. I guess that’s what comes of the monks early to bed, early to rise schedule. I think we might see MLS at left back and save Calafiori for Sunday – his physicality and the fact that he scored against C130y look good reasons for him to start then to me. A draw will be good enough to pretty much ensure 3rd, although a win for us and a draw or less for Barcelona could see us second. Forza La Dea….
There was an interesting point made on the Athletic Arsenal podcast – that Girona are part of the same “group” as C130y. It will be interesting to see how aggressively they pursue the game tonight. Which is a diplomatic attempt to say it wouldn’t be surprising if they were to receive instructions to kick seven bells out of us ahead of Sunday. Cynical? Me?
CER@19: The Girona DM, Romeu, is what we used to call an enforcer, so your concern is warranted.
Every place in the league phase’s final table is worth €275,000 more in prize money than the one below. So we’d get €9.625 million for finishing second, €275,000 less for finishing third, another €275,000 less for finishing fourth, and so on. Also, clubs get a €2.1 million performance bonus for each win in the league phase but €700,000 for a draw, so that is another reason to win.
Lineup
Another magnificent fact filled preview Ned – are the monks on performance bonuses?.
Let’s win this tonight and put us in the best frame of mind for c130y on Sunday.
COYRRR
Ned @20 – Romeu seems to think it’s fancy dress and has come as Travis Bickle.
Odegaard noticeably playing on the left tonight, looking to balance us out more perhaps
Nwaneri utter quality.
Very Saka esque that goal. Shame shitty are losing and Vile may have extra games.
Much better second half thus far. Possibly not unlinked to Partey no longer being right back. Not a slight in him. It’s just not fair on him.
2-1 win was a fair result, trying to work through the draw and an Italian job seems likely for the last 16
We will play one of Juventus, AC Milan, Feyenoord or PSV in the Round of 16.
Good that we could rest some key players, shame about the late penalty miss but given
it was a scratch side we turned it round well.
Looks like City gets either Real Madrid or Bayern Munich in the play-offs — and Celtic gets the one City doesn’t.
That’s good news Ned, it will be an entertaining game for our players to watch with their feet up around the pool 😄
In other news, I wouldn’t mind at all if we signed Watkins.
At least it would stop him from scoring against us!
Actually, he would be an excellent buy in reality but I think it
will be very difficult.
We made the bid for Watkins on Monday .
Villa seem to prefer to sell Duran but a couple of decent judges suggest Arsenal fancy their chances of signing Watkins . This usually means Villa haven’t sent them packing . It would be odd to reach the Champions League top 8 , and then sell two of the best strikers in the league and then replace them with Joao Felix . Watching them tonight Rogers looks superb playing just behind a main striker but it’s a huge gamble to dismantle your ( very good) attack halfway through the season . I can’t see this deal will be allowed to happen. But it does show we are being active in trying to recruit a top striker
TTG@34: I’m sure Villa would prefer to take the rich pickings for Duran on offer from Al-Nassr and keep Watkins. However, the scuttlebutt is that Al-Nassr has a done deal waiting to be inked with Bayer Leverkusen’s Victor Boniface. As the Saudi window closes on Jan 31, Villa and Duran have to come to the table quickly, or their offer disappears. If Duran stays at Villa Park, I suspect our chances with Watkins rise, but they fall to zero if he doesn’t.
Ned,
True enough, although there is a case to be made that Villa are better off taking the money for a 29 year old Watkins now rather than the much younger Duran. Watkins value will fall off a cliff I would have thought compared to what Villa can extort from us now. Al-Nassr’s money will still be there in the summer.
OM@36: That is a fair point about Watkins’s value/age, but I think if Al-Nassr signs Boniface, the money isn’t there in the summer for Duran. I also don’t think that Emery is 100% sold on Duran. I don’t get the feeling that he would move hell and high water to keep him.
I don’t have any insider knowledge of the club, but this window feels a bit like last summer’s window. Apparently we went all in on Sesko last summer and when he signed a new contract Leipzig late in the window, we ended up panic-loaning Sterling. If you believe the rumors for January, we did the same thing and we are trying to panic buy. My guess is we will see Sanogo back in an Arsenal kit on Monday.
@37 I hope I’m right Ned 😄 but I suspect you are correct that UE doesn’t particularly mind about Duran leaving
@38 😂😂 surely not while Christian Benteke is still available
ecg@38: Don’t laugh. Sanogo is only 32 and has just been released by Qingdao Red Lions, so he is available.
OM – Benteke is happily plying his trade in the MLS with DC United and in the 2024 season led the league in scoring with 23 goals in 30 matches. On the other hand, the highest transfer fee in the MLS history is $16mil, so maybe if we all pitch in…
Ned – Sadly, I’m not laughing…
@41 oh! I stand corrected on Benteke! In a way it’s nice that he is successful now after several grim seasons in the PL. Good too that Sanogo made a career somehow after his various difficulties though I am not sure where you go after being released by Qingdao Red Lions.
No idea if any of the teams that just went out of the CL have a decent striker but I suppose they would be easier to get than the likes of Watkins, Mbeumo, Isak etc.
ecg@41: 🙂
OM@42: As one of the teams eliminated was RB Leipzig, and that is Benjamin Sesko’s team, I am not sure your supposition holds water.