500 minutes and 35 million euros reveal Girona's shame.

GIRONAThe penalty converted by Cristhian Stuani in the Monday's duel against Espanyol allowed Girona earning a very important point for not taking any damage in the standings. This year, in which they've had to juggle three competitions at once, has been disappointing in terms of play and results. They're far from the numbers from last season, which were completely unacceptable, but also from a consistency that would be appropriate for the largest budget in their history.

The Girona side have 113 million euros available and a salary cap of 98.88 million euros, eighth in the First Division. These figures have not allowed them to move from thirteenth place in the table, following a monumental decline in recent months: in La Liga, they have won only one of their last eight matches, losing five of them. This poor performance has extended to one win in their last ten attempts, including the Champions League. This has led them to begin calculating whether to avoid relegation, now at seven points, or to continue looking to Europe, which was what their coach, Míchel, wanted. They said goodbye to the top continental competition and also to the Copa del Rey, where they fell on a disastrous night in Logroño, against a Segunda RFEF team that played many minutes with fewer players and with the left back acting as goalkeeper.

One of the symptoms that explains the Rojiblancos' difficulties is the lack of a goal-scorer with the face and eyes to make the difference in attack. None of the summer signings in the attacking position are working out, except for Bryan Gil. Sporting director Quique Cárcel invested more than 35 million euros in Abel Ruiz, Miovski, Asprilla, and Danjuma. The summary is as follows.

Ruiz has scored four goals, and although his scoring output has never been his strong suit (the season he scored the most, he scored nine), he hasn't excelled outside the penalty area, where he was supposed to compensate for his lack of agility in front of goal. In the deal, valued at nine million, Girona also added youth-team player Gabri Martínez, who has three goals and four assists in Portugal. As for Miovski, he has only scored in two of his nineteen matches, one of them against Extremadura in the Copa del Rey. The Macedonian's impact on the pitch is almost nonexistent. He cost six and a half million euros and has only shot eight times in the entire La Liga season, four on target.

Asprilla needed eighteen million euros, a good part of the money earned for Dovbyk. The Colombian, who plays as a winger, has only played 98 minutes in the last six matches and didn't even come on at Cornellà, despite the team losing. Too individualistic and poor at making decisions, he is very inconsistent. The latest of the new arrivals is Danjuma, on loan from Villarreal, who has scored once in La Liga: the 3-0 win against Valladolid, the bottom club. For the Yellows, he scored two in the first two matches before arriving at Montilivi.

Always Stuani

Girona's top scorer, then, is none other than Cristhian Stuani, although Míchel gives him less attention than the aforementioned. In 516 minutes, the Uruguayan, who only started once in La Liga (to find the previous one, you have to go back to November 2023), scored five goals. The average is 1 every 103.2.

The Girona number 7 is also the player who is involved in the most Girona goals, along with Yangel Herrera, with a total of seven, because he has also provided two assists. His presence always generates a danger that the others transmit little. In the last three seasons, he has been the top scorer as a substitute in the five major European leagues, with a total of sixteen goals, surpassing Lautaro Martínez (Inter, 11) and Gonçalo Ramos (PSG, 9), according to the specialist X account @OptaJose.

And he extends his lead as the top scorer in the history of the League coming off the bench, with 31 (the second is Julio Salinas, with 28), as published BeSoccer. In the First Division, he has converted 24 of 25 penalties. His performance, at 38 years of age, exposes Girona's shame.