If Girona beat Real Betis on Thursday evening, regardless of what Real Madrid do, the Catalan side will be winter champions. They will still be one game short of the true halfway point, but in a season of milestones already, Girona fans will be able to sit down at Christmas with their team top of the table. The question that all are asking, is how long can it last?
A quick look at the la liga odds before the season would have told you that Girona have a minuscule chance of making the top four, let alone winning the league. Yet their are arguments both for and against them being able to maintain their current performance levels – here are some of the them.
For Girona winning the league
- The football – Girona are playing the best football in Spain currently. They might not have the best players, but there is only one game in which they were beaten this season, and the first 15 minutes against Real Madrid, they should have been two goals to the good. Opponents are struggling to live with them, and Athletic Club (5th) and Real Sociedad (6th) are the only teams to have taken points off them.
- Comeback kings – Girona have come from behind on eight occasions this season, winning six of them. No side has done so more often. It does not phase the Blanquivermells to face adversity, and they continue to play the same way whenever it comes their way
- Lack of Europe – Everyone else in the title race will be playing midweek games until at least March, leaving little opportunity for them to recover, train and prepare games. Girona on the other hand have just one game per week to focus on for the most part, and that means they have an edge over their rivals
Against Girona winning the league
- Injuries – Yangel Herrera has gone down for a few weeks, and Viktor Tsygankov missed a couple of games too. In general, Girona have avoided the injury bug though, and a problem for a key player like Aleix Garcia or Ivan Martin would hamper them significantly.
- Pressure – There’s a reason Real Madrid grow in the Champions League and others shrink – experience. Girona are still playing without much pressure, and when they hit the home stretch, the eyes of the world will be watching to see if they can pull off a miracle – the necessity to win weighs heavier than the desire.
- Defence – The flipside of that ability to come back is that they have needed to far too often. Barcelona proved the trope last season that defences win leagues, and if Girona continue to concede (20 goals in 17 games), then it’s a rare title-winning team that can overcome obstacles quite so often.