Francisco's Girona on Thursday took a firm step toward his goal of fast-lapping back to First division by imposing itself on Almeria in Montilivi in the first leg of the first of the semifinals of the promotion playoff (1-0). The Catalans will try to assert their advantage to qualify for the final this Sunday, when they will visit the Mediterranean Games Stadium in the duel back.
Hand in hand with Francisco, who at the beginning of July relieved Josep Lluís Martí on the Montilivi bench with the order of returning the Catalans to Primera, the Girona it has become a team in the truest sense of the term. Of the four teams that are opting for promotion right now, Girona, which this Thursday was much superior to Almería, seems the fittest team and, perhaps, the great favorite for promotion.
Girona's improvement is explained, above all, from defense. And it is that, with Francisco in the bench of Montilivi, the Girona team, more aggressive and intense, is offering a great defensive strength that is personified in Juanpe and Ignasi Miquel, imperial and insurmountable. “I do not like to individualize, but they have been at a fantastic level,” admitted Francisco himself just after defeating Almería.
Remembers Girona-Almería, first leg of the promotion playoff
The unstoppable Cristhian Stuani He has eyebrow to eyebrow to return to play with Girona in the First Division, and this Thursday he showed it again by deciding the match with his 30th goal of the season. At the start of the second act, the Uruguayan striker, the top scorer in the category, joined Borja García and Samu Sáiz, who has recovered his best version with Francisco, to create a delicious goal that brings Girona closer to its great goal.
The Estadi Municipal de Montilivi is still a fort almost impregnable. The Catalan team chained their fifth consecutive victory this Thursday, after those achieved against Numancia, Zaragoza, Almería itself and Cádiz in the final leg of the regular league. Girona, in fact, has not lost any home game in 2020 in the regular competition; and now he will face the second leg, in Almería, with the need to improve in what has been his great pending issue throughout this course, since, in the regular league, the Catalan team only added three wins away and 25% of the possible points as a visitor.
It was not the night of either Almería or José Gomes, who made his debut as a coach for Almería with a defeat as close as it was deserved. The Portuguese, the fifth coach of the course for the Andalusians, seemed to accept the tie at zero and had an eleven with five defenses. But his men were misplaced, just the opposite of a much more cohesive Girona. After both of Stuani he rectified and subtracted a defender to strengthen the center of the field, but he could no longer change the course of the game. “In Almería, my players are going to leave their skin on the field to go to the final,” he warned at the press conference.