Desperate rituals to avoid Michel's tragedy at Girona

Girona"We need to meet. It's urgent." This email, sent internally among some Girona staff last week, set Montilivi off. And it's no wonder, considering the first team's situation in La Liga, bottom of the table and unable to win any of its first seven matchdays. They've only scraped together three draws, the last two in a row. The first consequence is that Míchel's future is unclear. In fact, it hasn't been for days. The performance against Athletic and Espanyol has given him some breathing room, but a setback this Saturday against Valencia (4:15 p.m., DAZN) could leave him without a job. Hence the haste of the email.

No one knows the future of the sad path taken by a team that was flying. The first to be caught off guard are the club's own employees, who hold the Madrid manager, always so close, in special esteem. If Míchel falls, Montilivi will be the closest thing to a tragedy. What the secret potion for the reaction is is a mystery, which has led to desperate resorting to rituals that have worked in other times. The crisis among the employees ended with a tour secretly in the corridors and locker rooms just before the derby, where they burned palo santo, just like Taty Castellanos did before putting on his boots, to expel evil spirits. It was a secret, but the workers themselves also did it against Mallorca last May, in the midst of the fight for survival. That night, it wasn't all down to Portu and Stuani's efforts. They believe they did their part and wanted to repeat. But it didn't go as they expected.

Almost 150 days have passed since Girona's last victory, an eternity. Patience runs out, but imagination doesn't. Even Míchel himself, who has spent the last few months gesticulating, cursing, and hyperactive on the touchline, has decided to change his strategy regarding his behavior. "My demands will no longer be accompanied by criticism, but by a hug. If every day, in every training session, I'm giving them a hard time, it will be worse. Now the players need to feel warmth, because we're all suffering." The Atlético manager's last words in the press conference for the match against Espanyol were "I'm asking for time." Immediately afterward, with the time already over, he attempted to bring humor to a situation that is anything but funny, by throwing a question into the air that he himself answered. "Will they give it to me? Maybe not, eh?" Then he grimaced, stood up, and left, following the path opened by the head of communications, David Torras.

The reality is that Míchel will be taking another gamble against Valencia: in the event of a bad result, his future will be put on the table, coinciding with the calendar allowing for a respite in the form of a break for international matches. At any other club and with any other coach, enduring a dynamic like the current one, in which 16 of the last 78 possible points have been collected, would have been unthinkable.

Missing a birth and a booing

The squad, especially the heavyweights, are also rallying around the coach, in a mix of commitment and gratitude for everything they've experienced together. Gazzaniga traveled to Vigo, although his partner was waiting for the birth of little Enzo, who was born while his father was deflecting balls onto the Balaídos pitch.

In the defeat to Levante, after only nine players had taken the lap of honor to the fans who had endured a 0-4 defeat, an authoritative voice from the locker room booed the rest, reminding them that this was a team and that it couldn't be just each one. In times like these, it's necessary to stick together.

Just in case, the workers still have an emergency resource: in the only play-off In the match that saw Girona promoted to the First Division, they planted garlic behind the goals. Anything for Míchel's survival.