MADRID — Girona is on the rise in the Spanish league.
The Catalan club bounced back from Sunday’s Copa del Rey setback to extend their run and return to the top of the table by defeating Celta Vigo 1-0 in Sunday’s league match.
Portu scored the winning goal in the first half to give Girona a point and a point over Real Madrid, who won 2-1 in Las Palmas on Saturday. Madrid have played one game less than Girona.
“This is a long-distance race,” Girona coach Michel Sanchez said. “We’re in a very good position and we want to continue like this.”
Girona lost 3-2 to Mallorca in the Copa del Rey, but as a result they missed out on advancing to the semi-finals of the competition for the first time, ending their unbeaten run of 17 games in all competitions. The team’s only other loss this season was at home to Madrid in the league in September.
Girona boasts the best attacking power in the tournament with 17 wins and 52 goals in 22 league games. No other team has more than 45 points.
Michel’s side have won six of their last eight league matches, but have tough games ahead of them, with games against sixth-place Real Sociedad, second-place Madrid and fifth-place Athletic Bilbao.
It was the third consecutive defeat for Celta, coached by Rafa Benitez, who had lost two in a row at home in the league and in the Copa against Real Sociedad. The Vigo team remained in 17th place in the league.
Benitez, who is in the first year of a three-year contract with Celta, was jeered during and after the match.
“We played against a good team that is at the top for a good reason,” Benitez said. “We had chances, but we didn’t take advantage of them.”
Celta were at risk of slipping into the relegation zone late on Sunday, but Cadiz drew 0-0 with Athletic and Sevilla drew 1-1 with Osasuna.
Benítez, like Michel and some of Girona’s players, complained about the poor field conditions at the Balaidos Stadium.
Girona conceded a few chances, but were in control for most of the match.
Portu fired a low shot from inside the area that hit the near post and into the net in the 20th minute.
“We have to take it game by game,” Portu said. “We know we have opened up a huge gap to other teams competing for European places and that has to be our goal now.”
Atlético’s winning streak
Atlético Madrid defeated Valencia 2-0 with first-half goals from Samuel Lino and Memphis Depay, moving past Barcelona into third place.
With the win, Atlético extended their unbeaten run at home to 27 games since losing 1-0 to Barcelona in January last year. There were just two draws during this streak, tying the team’s undefeated home record from 2019 to 2021.
Atlético and Barcelona are tied on 44 points, 11 points less than Girona.
Lino, a former Valencia player, said: “I’m not worried about the position. We need to keep trying to win games and we’ll see what happens.”
Valencia has won four consecutive league games. It is located in 8th place.
seville slump
Sevilla’s struggles continued at home against Osasuna, which left them outside the relegation zone with just one point and led to more jeers from fans.
Sevilla had won just one of their last 16 league games and had just been eliminated from the Copa del Rey quarter-finals against Atlético.
Unbeatable Cadiz
Even after the appointment of new coach Mauricio Pellegrino, Cadiz was unable to end their 20-game winless streak in all competitions.
A goalless home draw with fifth-placed Athletic kept Cadiz on the edge of the relegation zone.