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Michel proud of joint-leaders Girona after Atletico Madrid thriller: My players have an incredible mentality

Girona coach Michel hailed his players after their stunning 4-3 win against Atletico Madrid.

Alvaro Morata struck a hat-trick for Atletico, but Girona won thanks to Ivan Martin's injury-time winner.

Girona finished the first-half of the season as joint-leaders with Real Madrid, but Michel insisted afterwards: "It's not the goal. It is thinking game by game and reaching Europe, which would be making history.

"It was a very nice game. We have done many things well. My players have an incredible mentality, resilience in bad times and always try to move forward. Our dream is to go to Europe, but we cannot fight face to face with Madrid.

"Being level on points with the greats is very difficult, game by game."

On Martin's winner, Michel said: "We had resilience to know how to suffer and wait for our moment. Always knowing that we wanted to move forward. Solís came in very well. Aleix and Iván are not top in defence and they have given us a lot of energy. With that energy we moved and everyone took a step forward. The last 25 minutes of the game a lot could have happened, but then we are a good team.

"He (Martin) is the great unknown of the game, but I tell him that he has to beat his teammates and he has won those. He always gives a passing line and his teammates know it. That people don't value it? The locker room does."

On Pablo Torre's performance, Michel added: "This is the Pablo we need, he can help us a lot. Spinning between the lines is one of the best in the world."

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