Madrid (AFP) – Girona, the surprise of the season, continued its rise and clung to the lead when it overcame its deficit against hosts Rayo Vallecano with a 2-1 win in the thirteenth round of the Spanish Football Championship on Saturday.
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Capitals Rayo Vallecano scored first through striker Alvaro Garcia (5), but the Catalans hit back with goals from Ukraine’s Artem Tovpik (42) and Brazil’s Savio (65).
Girona succeeded in turning the tables on Rayo Vallecano, who served them well in the final stages as they held their neighbors and hosts Real Madrid to a goalless draw and lost out on sharing the lead with the Catalan club.
It was Girona’s eleventh win of the season and fifth in a row after their only defeat so far this season, a 0–3 defeat against Real Madrid in the eighth round.
Girona then strengthened their position at the top with 34 points, five ahead of hosts Real Madrid.
On the other hand, Rayo Vallecano has failed to achieve victory in its last three matches (two draws and one loss), so its score is temporarily frozen in ninth place with 18 points. International window, specifically on November 25 this year.
As Venezuela midfielder Yankel Herrera tried to deflect it, Garcia succeeded in taking advantage of his team-mate Issy Balasan’s recovery from the leg to head Rayo Vallecano so it was ready in front of him inside the area, so he followed it up towards goal. (5)
Argentina goalkeeper Paulo Casanica saved Rayo Vallecano captain Oscar Valente’s creeping reverse shot from inside the area for a corner (8).
French defender Florian Le Jean saved his goal from a certain goal by deflecting Ukraine’s Artem Tovbek’s cube ball off goal and hit the left post before being deflected by his Romanian team-mate Andre Raziu (22).
Valjegano’s North Macedonian international goalkeeper, Stoli Dimitrivski, narrowly saved Ivan Martin’s powerful ball (38) from outside the area.
Girona equalized when fellow Ukrainian Viktor Tsygankov broke in from the right and sent a cross to his compatriot Tovbek.
It was Tović’s seventh goal of the season, joining Alvaro Morata, Frenchman Antoine Griezmann (Atletico Madrid) and Gerard Moreno (Villarreal) for second place in the goalscoring charts, three goals behind Real Madrid international Jude Bellingham.
Tovbek almost gave the visitors the lead with a powerful shot from inside the area that was blocked by goalkeeper Dmitriwski (45+5).
Rayo Vallecano did well early in the second half and scored again when Uruguayan defender Alfonso Espino received a ball into the area from Argentina’s Oscar Trejo and fired it powerfully home. )
Casanica continued his brilliance and narrowly blocked a strong, creeping shot by Balasan from a corner (54).
The right post prevented Sergio Camilo from returning a header from close range to add a second goal, then denied Trejo a shot from just inside the crossbar area (55).
Savio capitalized on goalkeeper Dmitriwski’s save following Tovbek’s (65) close-range shot to give Girona the lead.
Later, Almeria will play Real Sociedad, Granada will play Getafe and Osasuna will play Las Palmas.
The stage concludes on Sunday with meetings between Barcelona and Alaves, Sevilla and Real Betis and Atletico Madrid and Villarreal, and closes with Real Mallorca and Cádiz on Wednesday.
© 2023 AFP
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