COLUMN: Cristhian Stuani – How Girona’s Heart and Soul is handling the transition from Segunda to Europe | OneFootball

LaLiga’s three-team title race has tightened after another frenetic weekend in Spain. A significant refereeing controversy during Real Madrid’s loss to Espanyol prompted Los Blancos to complain in an official manner to RFEF as their lead atop LaLiga shrank to one point over Atletico Madrid with 22 matchdays played. Those two teams meet in the latest installment of their city derby next Saturday, while third-place Barcelona will be looking on, hoping to take advantage of a slip-up from one (or both) of the capital clubs.

After 22 rounds last season, little Girona FC were in this title mix. But the Blanquivermells never quite recovered after a goalless draw at home to Real Sociedad in round 23; the following weekend’s trip to the Santiago Bernabeu ended in a thumping 4-0 defeat, and Girona were not really a factor in the title race after that. Still, an unfancied group representing a city of 100,000 people shocked the football world by finishing third – five points better than Atletico – and qualifying for the Champions League.

All season long, I have been curious about how Girona would deal with such an unanticipated success, especially after key players like Savinho, Aleix Garcia, and Artem Dovbyk moved on last summer. Girona broke its club transfer record three times during the summer transfer window as sporting director Quique Carcel attempted to reinforce a side that shattered all expectations – it had been 12 years since a side other than Atletico Madrid finished directly behind Barcelona and Real Madrid.

Following Monday’s 2-1 home win over Las Palmas, Girona (9-4-9, 31 points) leapfrogged four teams into 7th place and now sit one point behind Rayo Vallecano for 6th – which would be good enough to enter next season’s UEFA Conference League at the qualifying stage. Two of last summer’s signings sealed the win over Girona’s island visitors: former La Masia prospect Abel Ruiz beat Las Palmas’ offside trap to open the scoring on eight minutes, while Colombian winger Yaser Asprilla turned and arrowed in the eventual winning goal 70 minutes later.

In previous columns for this esteemed publication, I have registered my concerns about the financial future of football in Spain – the German second tier spent twice as much money on new signings as the Spanish first tier in the now-closed winter transfer window, although it can be tough to parse how much of that is by design. Ownership models like City Football Group and even BlueCo strike me as inherently dangerous to the sport’s future. CFG added Girona to its “portfolio” of clubs in 2017, but it has only the ninth-largest payroll in La Liga this term. What’s more, the club’s two longest-tenured players pre-date the ownership consortium – one of them, at 38, is the fourth-oldest player in La Liga this season, and he continues to contribute as Girona seek a European encore.

We speak of course about club captain Cristhian Stuani, who actually assisted Asprilla’s winner on Monday to cap his 17th(!) substitute appearance of the league season. Stuani joined Girona from Middlesbrough in July 2017, one month before CFG confirmed it had purchased a 44% stake in the newly-promoted club.

Stuani’s return to Spain after two years in England began with a bang; he bagged a brace in a 2-2 draw against Atletico, and he ended the season with 21 goals before becoming Girona’s all-time top scorer the following year. And in a move that forever endeared him to the club and its fans, Stuani quickly signed a contract extension to 2023; three seasons, 61 goals in Segunda, and a renewal to 2026 followed before promotion back to the top flight was finally achieved.

“Everything we are experiencing is a dream and we don’t want to wake up,” Stuani said in November 2023, with Girona top of the league. “We must enjoy it, but also be aware that it is an added responsibility, now we are no longer the surprise and the teams know us more, which means that we must increase the effort and work.”

Stuani against Slovan Bratislava

Last season, Michel’s miracle men did the double over Catalan rivals Barcelona and beat Atletico in a seven-goal thriller at its Montilivi home last January; they led the league after rounds 7, 12, 13, 16, 17, 20, 21, and 22. The aftermath of such unexpected success came at a cost, as it often does for clubs existing in tiers below the absolute elite. Dovbyk departed for Roma in a €30m transfer and has underwhelmed amid the Italian club’s instability; Aleix Garcia joined German champions Bayer Leverkusen for a modest €18m and has become a key squad member for Xabi Alonso. Savinho, a €25m departure, has been ever-present at Manchester City, but the machinations of City Football Group meant that Girona never saw a single euro for him – technically, the Brazilian had been loaned from French club Troyes, which CFG also owns. (Do you see how bad this is?)

So Stuani, part of the furniture at this point, was tasked with assisting in the adaptation of several new players while preparing for a maiden Champions League adventure at what has become the club of his life. Girona spent a club-record €18m to bring in the technically-gifted Asprilla; his goal Monday was only his second this season (though his creativity has been important to this new-look side). Bryan Gil joined on loan from Tottenham and is second on the team in shot-creating actions. But the inefficient Abel Ruiz was a €9m investment; North Macedonia forward Bojan Miovski was a nice idea for a shrewd signing from Aberdeen, but he too has found it difficult to adapt to La Liga.

In only 397 minutes, Stuani has scored four goals (two penalties) and assisted two more; he is level with Bryan for the team lead in goal contributions Extrapolated over a full season and a starting striker’s workload, Stuani’s 0.82 non-penalty expected goals per 90 mark rivals Robert Lewandowski and would be greater than any of Atletico or Real Madrid’s attacking players. All four of Stuani’s goals have been scored after the hour, when Girona have scored 12 of its 31 team goals; his 99th-minute penalty against Athletic in October is one reason why the race for the last two European places is so tight.

For Girona, the 2024/25 season has been all about transition and new experiences. The club got its first taste of the Champions League – and the heartbreak that comes with it. The Blanquivermells suffered four 1-0 defeats in the eight-round league phase; their losses to Feyenoord, Milan, and even Liverpool must have been especially hard to take, as Girona matched these richer and more experienced opponents for large portions of their encounters. Returning to European competition in 2025/26, after so much turnover last summer, would be a pretty significant achievement for manager Michel and would boost his stock around football even higher.

Photo by EDDY KELELE / Diario AS

For Stuani, the heart and soul of Girona, a hard-working forward who doesn’t need many touches to score and is always willing to get stuck in to a challenge to help his teammates, this is perhaps the culmination of a beautiful, brilliant fight – through relegation, two years stuck in Segunda before a promotion playoff victory at the third time of asking, up to the summit of La Liga for eight weeks.

The skipper has earned his stripes – but as he told his team before Girona’s historic first Champions League win, 2-0 at home to Slovan Bratislava in October, the hunger to win still burns. Girona earned that opportunity, just as it will have earned another shot on the European stage if it can emerge as one of La Liga’s six best teams after last summer’s churn.

“Today I am going to play for Juanpe, for his children. He is going to play for mine,” Stuani said that night, in reference to the club’s longest-serving defender. “Jota (kit man Josep Maria Luis), today I want to play for you, who have been here for many years. Gali (match delegate Javier Galiano), too. People, we all have to be united. Danju (Arnaut Danjuma), where are you? I want to play for you, I’m going to play for you.”

“And we are going to win, people, because we deserve it and we have fought hard to be here. We are going to win, people, let’s go.”