How Champions League Football Led Girona Into a False Sense of Success

From making their debut in the Champions League to being on the brink of relegation last season, Girona find themselves in a similar position already in LaLiga.

It is difficult to fathom the downfall at the Estadi Montilivi over the last two years, since celebrating their debut in a major European competition.

​Girona finished in third position in 2023/24 to secure their place in the Champions League. However, since then, Los Albirrojos have come dangerously close to playing their football in the second tier of Spanish football.

​Last season, not many would have predicted that Míchel’s men were going to finish in 16th position. If other results hadn’t gone their way, after losing their last two matches, they could well have been relegated.

Sadly, so far this season, it has continued in a very similar fashion, with the Albirrojos currently languishing in the relegation zone with 12 points from 14 matches (W2, D6, L6).

This was further compounded by an embarrassing elimination in the second round of the Copa del Rey by third-tier outfit Ourense on Wednesday.

​So, what exactly is to blame for the Catalonian’s ongoing decline on and off the pitch across the previous two years? 

Major Outgoings at Girona Have Left Them Depleted

Since the conclusion of the 2023/24 campaign, Girona have lost an eclectic mix of world-class talent. This has included Artem Dovbyk, Eric García, Savinho and Aleix García, to name a few who have departed the Estadi Montilivi.

Arguably, Dovbyk was the biggest loss for the club, as the Ukrainian’s 24 goals were enough to outscore Robert Lewandowski, Ante Budimir and the Atlético Madrid pair, Antoine Griezmann and Álvaro Morata.

The honour not only led to Dovbyk winning the 2023/24 LaLiga Golden Boot award, but also to a £25million move to Roma.

Girona were left depleted in the attacking department, but there was still worse to come, with Savinho also departing after his loan spell with Troyes came to an end. 

The Brazil international provided 19 goal contributions (G9, A10) in 2023/24. Given Girona’s tally of 85 goals that season, just over 38 percent were netted by Dovbyk and Savinho.

Although Girona were the main beneficiaries of the player-swapping that goes on as part of being in the City Group – which also owns Manchester City, New York City – Savinho returned to his then parent Ligue 1 club Troyes at the conclusion of 2023/24. 

Another example of Girona arguably being used as a short-term platform to success is the situation with Yan Couto. The right-sided attacker, who now plays for Borussia Dortmund, registered 10 assists during the 2023/24 season, before eventually being recalled by his parent club Man City.

He would never return to Girona, as another loan spell in Germany with his current employers eventually led to a permanent move. Those 10 assists were only matched by Savinho, demonstrating the void left by both players upon their exits out of the Estadi Montilivi gates.

However, neither of their respective like-for-like replacements has come close to living up to the cult status the pair drummed up in Catalonia.

Abel Ruiz, signed from Braga, scored only four goals in 23 appearances in 2023/24 and has failed to find the back of the net this season. Bojan Miovski, who has since departed the club for Rangers, was also brought in to help fill Dovbyk’s void, but the Macedonian only celebrated two times in 17 matches.

Savinho’s successor, Yáser Asprilla, signed out of Championship outfit Watford, has significantly struggled to acclimatise. Only three goals in 27 matches in 2024/25 has been followed up by a grand total of zero in 11 league appearances so far this season.

A hat-trick of devastating departures concluded with midfield maestro Aleix García joining Bayer Leverkusen for just over £15.5m, a bargain for the Bundesliga-based club considering he contributed nine attacking returns (G3, A6) in Girona’s historic Champions League qualifying season.

As fellow LaLiga player Jules Kounde put aptly, keeping up with the demands of a ‘relentless’ football calendar are burdensome, even for the deepest of squads. As Girona suddenly found themselves competing on all fronts, a squad slowly stripped of their key players began to struggle with the uptick in fixtures.

Vladyslav Vanat, Bryan Gil and Thomas Lemar were all brought in during the summer to help bolster Míchel’s attacking ranks, but, again, it hasn’t gone to plan. Girona have scored fewer than a goal a game this term.

Girona’s Defensive Record is Anchoring Them to the Bottom

​Girona were massively weakened defensively, with centre-back Eric García returning to parent club Barcelona after helping his side to 12 clean sheets. The Spaniard’s direct replacement, Ladislav Krejčí, struggled to fill the void left by García, as Girona conceded 60 goals last season, compared to 39 the previous campaign. 

To try and stop the seasonal rot from continuing in 2025/26, Girona have not been shy in the most recent transfer market, bringing in no less than nine players. This included notable additions to bolster the defensive department, with experienced defensive midfielder Axel Witsel, left-back Álex Moreno and centre-back Vitor Reis, on loan from Manchester City, brought in.

It has done little to plug the holes, however, with Girona allowing a league-high 26 goals in 14 games.

Only bottom-of-the-table Real Oviedo and Levante are predicted to have a higher chance of playing in the Segunda next season. Despite it being very early in the season, everyone associated with the club are quietly concerned, especially after what happened last year. 

It’s worth noting that there are some big names in the conversation surrounding Spanish football. Málaga, Real Zaragoza and ​Deportivo de La Coruña have all previously flourished in Europe, but now find themselves are now struggling to escape the mire of the lower leagues. Could Girona join that list of previous big-hitters at the end of the season?