Girona, what's the reason for this?

After miraculously avoiding relegation from La Liga last season, Girona have fallen back into the same rut at the start of the 2025/26 season.

Girona have had an extremely poor start to the season.

After the 11th round of La Liga, Girona sits at the bottom of the table with only 7 points from 1 win, 4 draws, and 6 losses. Girona began a terrible slump last season, after unexpectedly qualifying for the Champions League. Now, their biggest goal is simply to avoid relegation. This harsh reality has led many to question why Girona has declined so drastically.

It's no longer a phenomenon.

Last season, the iconic Champions League anthem echoed around Montilivi as Girona made their debut in Europe's most prestigious club competition. At the time, Girona's 14,624-seat stadium had the smallest capacity in the 2024/25 Champions League. This further highlighted their rapid rise. In its 87-year history, Girona only played in La Liga for the first time in 2017.

When Girona led La Liga in the 2023/24 season, many saw them as a Spanish Leicester City. Ultimately, they finished third in La Liga behind Real Madrid and Barcelona, ​​but overtook Atlético Madrid to qualify for the Champions League.

From then on, many expected Girona to solidify its position by regularly participating in European cups, especially since City Football Group was the largest shareholder in the club with 47% of the shares. However, the reality was completely different.

Girona narrowly avoided relegation last season and are currently bottom of La Liga after 11 matches. The harsh reality for Girona comes after performances that exceeded expectations two years ago. Girona is just a small city in Catalonia, with a population of under 100,000, and is becoming a victim of its own success.

El Pais suggests that, given their squad value, city size, and revenue, Girona is only a mid-table club in La Liga. Perhaps the issue isn't a decline in Girona's form, but simply their inconsistent performance two years ago.

Coach Michel couldn't save Girona.

Girona finished the 2023/24 La Liga season in third place, having never previously finished above tenth. It's also worth noting that this was only Girona's sixth season in La Liga in their entire history.

As their rivals became more cautious, Girona only won three of their last 27 La Liga matches. Qualifying for the Champions League last season also meant they couldn't loan players from Manchester City. And this was the beginning of their tragedy.

Victims of success

Girona's connection to Manchester City is clear, through Pere Guardiola, Pep's brother. Pere Guardiola has been Girona's president for many years. Although City Football Group and the Man City owners have invested in Girona, the La Liga club's progress hasn't been solely due to heavy investment.

They achieved success through smart and sensible transfer deals. If they couldn't buy players cheaply, Manchester City or clubs from the City Football Group system around the world would loan or sell players to them at incredibly low prices.

As a result, players like Artem Dovbyk, Aleix Garcia, Miguel Gutierrez, Yangel Herrera, Eric García, and Savinho came into the spotlight, significantly increasing their value. Girona's problem is that they couldn't replace key players after selling them.

Replacements like Bojan Miovski, Yaser Asprilla, Abel Ruiz, Donny van de Beek, and Arnaut Danjuma were all unsuccessful. Other key players who remained in the team were getting older, such as Paolo Gazzaniga, David Lopez, Stuani, or Daley Blind.

Since the start of the 2024/25 season, Girona has been the sixth highest spender in La Liga (€73.4 million) but has earned significantly more from player sales (€115.8 million). The €42.4 million profit Girona achieved during that period is the fourth highest in La Liga, and they also haven't invested heavily in the transfer market to maintain their position.

City Football Group once spent vast sums of money to transform Man City into a top European club, but they are taking a more pragmatic approach at Girona. Clearly, winning trophies or consistently qualifying for European competitions is not the primary goal of the UAE owners with Girona.

Therefore, the Catalan team now has to be content with their "underdog" position in La Liga.

Source: https://znews.vn/girona-vi-dau-nen-noi-post1599692.html