The surprising Girona team, authoritarian winner of Déportivo Alavés 3-0 on Monday evening at home, regained the lead of the Spanish championship at the end of the 17th day.
Thanks to this success, the tenth in the last eleven matches (against a draw), the Catalan club now has 44 points and regains the leadership position that its prestigious pursuer, Real Madrid, had taken the day before (42 pts), after his big victory over Villarreal (4-1).
FC Barcelona, held in check on Saturday in Valencia (1-1), occupies third place but at a distance (35 pts). Atlético Madrid, beaten 2-0 on Saturday in Bilbao, follows with 34 points (but a game late).
The Gironistes logically opened the score midway through the first period thanks to a header from Artem Dovbyk, quicker to victoriously recover the ball released by goalkeeper Sivera on a powerful strike from the Brazilian Yan Couto (23rd).
Shortly before the break, Portu, well served by the Brazilian wisp, doubled the lead with an uncontrolled shot, the ball lodging in Sivera’s opposite net.
The Basque team, suffocated, timidly tried to react in particular through the colossal attacker Samu Omorodian (19 years old, 1m93), the only one to have managed to send a shiver through the Catalan defense, like this header start of the match against which the Argentinian goalkeeper of the Catalan club Gazzaniga had intervened.
From the restart, Michel’s men, never worried, retained their control over the match by being compact and solid in the duels, annihilating the few rare offensive attempts of the opposing team.
At the hour mark, with an acceleration followed by a series of dribbles and confusing hooks, Couto pushed the Basque defense into a mistake in the zone of truth: an indisputable penalty. Dovbyk carried out the sentence to give himself a double and give a dimension more in keeping with the nature of the match (59th).
The Ukrainian striker, now the author of 10 goals in his first season in the Spanish championship, joins Mayoral (Getafe) in second place in the scorers’ ranking, three points behind Real Madrid’s English prodigy Jude Bellingham.
Girona, which has only lost one match since the start of the season, will travel to Betis Sevilla on Thursday evening for the 18th day while Real will face Alavés.
