Girona falls in a controversial and absurd way in San Sebastian

GironaWhen Girona had done the most important part of the job, which was nothing other than resisting for almost 75 minutes with one man down due to a controversial expulsion of David López, they received a bucket of ice-cold water: Gazzaniga, who had saved a penalty in the first half, let in a shot from Astiazaran that should not have caused any trouble. The Girona players had been too forgiving in the previous minutes, and they leave empty-handed in another missed opportunity to close the gap to enter the automatic promotion zone.

The script had already been blown to bits fifteen minutes into the game. With a certain suspense, mind you. In a play inside Gazzaniga's area, David López made a mistimed tackle on Lebarbier and the entire home side protested for a penalty that, initially, the referee dismissed. A few seconds passed until José Antonio Villalobos put his finger to his ear to listen to the call from the VAR, which asked him to reconsider. The Barcelona-born center-back shook his head, but when the referee headed towards the monitor, everyone knew he would call a penalty. What no one imagined, starting with David López himself, is that the official in charge of dispensing justice would approach him and show him the red card. The stamp was real, but the decision seemed excessive.

Real Sociedad B was feeling very optimistic. Then the figure of Paulo Gazzaniga emerged like a giant, because not only did he guess the intentions of Díaz's shot, but he also deflected the second strike from the local attacker, helpless in the face of the Argentine's performance, who would end up penalizing his teammates with the goal conceded at the end.

The new situation forced Quique Álvarez to sacrifice an attacking player (Unai Hernández) to bring on a defensive one (Mumin). Girona, which had been very discreet in the first few minutes, lost the presence they were supposed to have had on the pitch. They had enough trouble multiplying their physical efforts to compensate for the inferiority against an opponent that had accumulated six consecutive defeats and had not yet won at their stadium. Until today.

Damp gunpowder

Until now, the red-and-white team was the highest-scoring side in the category, tied with Castellón and Almería, but in Zubieta they have run dry. During most of the duel they did not have enough fluidity, and it is not that the Gipuzkoan reserve team was making them particularly nervous, because they only troubled them with a cross-shot from Balda that hit the crossbar, still in the first half.

While Girona dedicated themselves to defending well and waiting for an isolated counterattack, time went by, between yawns. And in the final stretch everything accelerated: the Gironins enjoyed three clear opportunities with Portu and Carles Pérez and, practically without meaning to, Astiazaran finished into the net with the complicity of Gazzaniga. In this way, Girona breaks a dynamic of three consecutive victories between the League and the Cup.