Girona will have five more days off than Espanyol to prepare for Saturday’s game
The Catalans, having a clean week and, in addition, having played on Thursday against Rayo Vallecano, will have eight days of margin between games
nor to Michel Sanchez not even the leaders of Girona were amused to stay eliminated from the Copa del Rey in the second round against a team from the Second RFEF, Cacereño. Hot, the disappointment was maximum despite the fact that everyone was aware that winning the Cup is not the goal of the club. Not even the consolation of being able to focus exclusively on the League served to calm the enraged one. Now, days after the crash, a reality opens up that can benefit the people of Girona. Or not. It depends on how you look at it.
On the one hand, there is a sector of the fans and those around the Catalan team that positively sees the elimination of the Cup to avoid the wear and tear of the squad for the League; the other, those with a sweet tooth, wanted to go further and thus be able to distribute minutes among all the players in the two competitions. When push comes to shove, the only reality is that Girona’s rival on Saturday, Espanyol, has a Cup match -and a demanding one- against another First Division team such as Celta de Vigo and, therefore, they will only have three full days of rest before Saturday’s derby against the Gironans at the RCDE Stadium. Girona, having a clean week and, in addition, coming from playing on Thursday with Rayo Vallecano, will have eight days of margin between game and game.
Míchel’s men began preparing for the derby after enjoying two days of partying to celebrate the end of the year. Espanyol, for their part, have not had much time for parties because, after drawing at the Camp Nou on Saturday, this Tuesday they will have a game again. Well sure the coach Diego Martínez will rotate tomorrow to distribute minutes and avoid injuries among the most loaded players. Against Celta, for example, Vini Souza will play who, sanctioned, will not be able to do it on Sunday against Girona.
In this way, Míchel is also watching the infirmary in case he can recover, at least, Bernardo Espinosa. The Colombian has missed the last two games due to a hip injury. Besides, Yangel Herrera will have had another clean week to add workload and pace after injury. Also Borja Garciawho is already discharged and, like the Venezuelan international midfielder, was on the bench in the match against Rayo.
For the derby, none of the other injured parties are still expected: Kébé, Javi Hernández, Reinier and Juanpe. Nor will it be oriol romeu, penalized for accumulation of yellow cards. The loss of Ulldecona is capital for Míchel, who has been thinking about who can be the substitute for days. The natural relief should be Ramon Terratsalthough it could also enter the equation Angel Herrera or even the option of delay Iván Martín to place him next to Aleix Garcia. It would be more daring to resort to the youth of the subsidiary Ricardo Artero or bet on samu saiz.
Open market
In the meantime, today the winter market has opened and the clubs can already begin to make movements to reinforce the templates. Girona is very attentive to the market, waiting to find, at least, a center back to prop up the team.
The other position that the sports management plans to reinforce is the forward. Before, however, there should be a departure from a player from the first team. Oscar Urenafor whom Zaragoza seeks the loan, has a branch file. The Figueres winger is also on the agenda of the Andorrawhat He already tried his loan in summer.