The vast majority of football fans may dismiss Girona’s meteoric rise to the top of Spain’s LaLiga as an early-season anomaly, but former Spain and Barcelona winger Luis Garcia is not one of them.
Despite being tied on 38 points with Real Madrid and behind the league leaders only on goal difference, Girona coach Michel has downplayed his team’s chances of winning the title, claiming that they are not at the level of the league’s best.
Girona has 12 victories, two defeats, and one tie so far this season, the same as perennial winners Real Madrid, and is four points clear of third-placed Barcelona, having scored more goals than any other team in the top flight ahead of their trip to Barca on Sunday.
“Girona have just come out of nowhere,” Garcia told Reuters in Bengaluru, comparing their rise to Leicester City’s fairytale Premier League title win in 2015-16.
“It’s the new Leicester, right? With Leicester I remember the talk was exactly the same — ‘Oh, you know, they will drop.'”
After winning Premier League promotion in 2014, Leicester required an unbelievable late rally to avoid relegation the following season, before beginning on their fantastic title run the following season.
Girona, who were promoted in a playoff in the 2021-22 season and placed 10th in LaLiga the previous season, appear to be following a similar script.
“Why can’t it just be Girona?” Garcia wondered. “They don’t have much European competition, and there aren’t many international players.”
“They can rest, rotate every week, and put out their best 11 every single weekend.” It is difficult to defeat this team.
“Will they feel the pressure in the last part of the season? They might. But we said the same of Leicester.”
Apart from Real Madrid and Barcelona, Atletico Madrid is the only team to have won LaLiga twice in the last decade, in 2014 and 2021, but Garcia feels that increased investment will reshape the European football scene.
“We can already see it with Newcastle (United),” the 45-year-old remarked.
“That’s why football is such a followed sports all around the world. We like to see the top teams competing for every single trophy. But we all love a dark horse. We all love it.”
Garcia was a member of the 2003-04 Barcelona team that had one hand on the title before dropping 10 points in the final two months of the season to finish second to Valencia.
“I grew up following Barcelona,” he explained. “(Missing) that opportunity to win LaLiga was a massive blow for me.”
The following season, Barcelona won the championship, but Garcia had already moved on to Liverpool, where he won the Champions championship and the FA Cup but not the Premier League title.
“It was so difficult. The Premier League was a dream for us,” he said.
However, Liverpool under Jurgen Klopp is an entirely different beast from the team Garcia was a part of, and the Spaniard feels they are serious about winning their second league title in four years this season.
“This squad is very competitive,” he stated. “I know it’s not going to be easy, but it’s not going to be easy for anyone.”