Elche, Girona's black beast this league

If Girona has had a black beast this season, without a doubt, it has been Elche. The rojiblanco team has only lost the two regular league games played this season against a team and this has been, precisely, their rival in the playoff final. It is true that, as Álex Granell defended last Monday, “we are not the team we were”, but two days after playing the first leg of the final at the Martínez Valero, the psychological battle is in favor of the whole team of Pacheta.

Of course, something in which Girona shields itself to win in optimism and confidence in the face of this final is that both in the duel of the first round in Montilivi (Unzué was the coach) and in the second, in the Martínez Valero (with Pep Lluís Martí), Francisco was not on the bench. And since the arrival of the technician, the rojiblanco block has been working like a charm. The first time they saw each other this season was in Montilivi, on October 12, 2019, and Iván Sánchez and Ortiz (0-2) gave the people of Elche all three points. And already in the second round, on June 19 at the Martínez Valero, the people of Girona were unable to add because of a goal from Escriche. On that occasion, the red-and-white defense was weak, something that now, with Francisco, is being an almost impossible mission to see.