Girona FC are the outright leaders of LALIGA EA SPORTS, and not for the first time this season. The Catalan outfit have now led the table after four separate matchdays, returning to the top of the pile with a sensational 4-2 victory away at FC Barcelona on Sunday night.
Goals from Artem Dovbyk, Miguel Gutiérrez, Valery Fernández and Cristhian Stuani earned Los Blanquivermells the three points against their Catalan neighbours, yet there was so much more to Girona FC's performance than just the goals.
It has been an incredible campaign for the team currently in first place with 41 points. Curiously, the last three teams to accumulate this many points after the first 16 rounds of a LALIGA EA SPORTS season went on to win the championship, so Girona FC are genuine title contenders. Here are five factors that go some way to explaining their latest victory and fairytale season as a whole.
Míchel continues to demonstrate his genius
The leader of the Girona FC project is Míchel, a coach whose rise to the top has been far from frictionless. The tactician from Madrid was sacked by both Rayo Vallecano and SD Huesca after following up promotions to LALIGA EA SPORTS with poor runs of results in the top division. With Girona FC, however, he has led Los Blanquivermells to the top tier and continued to evolve. The 48-year-old is painting his masterpiece at the Estadi Montilivi, where he has built a system based on fluid and synchronised movement between the centre-backs, full-backs and midfielders. That was on full display against Barça, perhaps best exemplified by left-back Miguel Gutiérrez getting forward and scoring while having his defensive duties covered by his teammates.
Girona FC have goalscorers across the pitch
Football matches are won with goals and Girona FC have goalscorers all across the pitch. Against FC Barcelona, the four goals were netted by four different players. Two of them are strikers and two are, in theory, full-backs. Furthermore, Valery Fernández and Cristhian Stuani came off the bench to put the ball in the back of the net. This has been a season-long trend and Girona FC, the top scorers in LALIGA EA SPORTS with 38 goals, have 13 different players who have scored at least once.
The saves of Paulo Gazzaniga
At the other end, Girona FC have conceded 20 goals, which is just the eighth-best defensive record of the competition, but this is a side product of their of play. Individually, their defenders and goalkeeper Paulo Gazzaniga have been playing well. Against FC Barcelona, Gazzaniga was excellent as he made several decisive saves. The 31-year-old Argentinian has moved around a lot in his career, but has found a home at the Estadi Montilivi.
The Ukrainian connection of Tsygankov and Dovbyk
Even though Girona FC lost top scorer Taty Castellanos in the summer, they recruited Ukrainian striker Artem Dovbyk and he has done brilliantly, scoring eight league goals already. When the centre-forward arrived, Girona FC fans hoped he would strike up a winning partnership with his international teammate Viktor Tsygankov, and that's exactly what has happened. Three of Dovbyk's goals have been assisted by Tsygankov, including the opener against Barça, while one of the right winger's goals this season was set up by Dovbyk. The Ukrainian connection is causing defences problems.
Girona FC's squad depth is impressive
Girona FC's sporting director Quique Cárcel deserves a lot of credit for building such a strong squad. The squad depth is impressive and has been vital, since Los Blanquivermells have had at least one injury every single matchday of this season. Against FC Barcelona, they were missing six players with injury, including midfield anchor Yangel Herrera. However, the strength in depth has been able to cover for any absences and that's another of the key reasons why Girona FC are the current leaders of LALIGA EA SPORTS.
