BARCELONA, Spain: Girona fought back for a 2-1 victory at Rayo Vallecano to ensure they kept their surprising lead of the Spanish league on Saturday.
Rayo went ahead from Álvaro García’s goal in the sixth minute. But Ukraine striker Artem Dovbyk equalized three minutes before halftime when he was set up by countryman Viktor Tsyhankov for his team-high seventh goal of the season.
Brazilian winger Sávio put the visitors ahead in the 65th when he finished off a Dovbyk shot that was blocked by goalkeeper Stole Dimitrievski.
Girona opened up a five-point gap over Real Madrid, which host Valencia later Saturday.
Girona, which two seasons ago were in the second division, are partly controlled by Manchester City’s Abu Dhabi ownership even though they have one of the lowest payrolls in the league of just 51 million euros ($54 million).
The numbers are impressive for the Catalonia team that are in only their fourth season in the top flight in club history. They have 11 wins in 13 rounds, including six wins in seven road games, and have five come-from-behind victories. Their only loss came at home to Madrid in September.
“This team showed again that they do not give up, and we seem to play better when we are behind,” said midfielder Aleix García, who was called up by Spain this week.
García said that his team can now aspire to bigger things than merely avoiding a relegation battle, which was their main aim in previous seasons.
“We have bigger goals now. We can dream,” García said. “We deserve to be where we are. We have a very tight group. We are like a family. We have this connection on the field that I am not sure where it comes from, but it is there.”
Girona win again to keep Spanish league lead after 2-1 comeback at Rayo
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Girona win again to keep Spanish league lead after 2-1 comeback at Rayo
- Ukraine striker Artem Dovbyk equalized three minutes before halftime
- Girona opened up a five-point gap over Real Madrid
Status of Women’s Africa Cup of Nations in doubt less than 2 weeks before start in Morocco
- “The matter is receiving urgent and high level attention,” September said on X
- “We will never be held hostage by countries that have less than what we have,” McKenzie said
CAIRO: Doubts over Morocco’s willingness to host the Women’s Africa Cup of Nations in less than two weeks have prompted the Confederation of African Football to say it will clarify the matter in the coming days.
“There has been several discussions for weeks. The matter is receiving urgent and high level attention,” CAF’s communications chief Luxolo September said on the social network X on Wednesday.
Morocco is due to host the tournament for the third time straight from March 17 to April 3, but reports that the country will withdraw have persisted despite CAF president Patrice Motsepe saying on Feb. 13 that the 16th edition of the tournament was to go ahead in the kingdom as planned.
“We still have an engagement with Morocco,” Motsepe said at the time, when he ruled out changing the dates because the tournament doubles as a qualifying event for the 2027 Women’s World Cup in Brazil.
South Africa previously offered to step in as host.
On Wednesday, South African sports minister Gayton McKenzie blasted Morocco for leaving the status of the tournament in doubt 13 days before it is due to begin.
“If Morocco is ready to host the WAFCON because they had a brilliant AFCON, they should do so. But if they are not ready, we want to tell them, we are not a country with no stadiums, we are not a country with less infrastructure. We will never be held hostage by countries that have less than what we have,” McKenzie said. “We will not allow women to be treated in such a fashion.”
CAF expanded the tournament to 16 teams in a surprise decision in November.
Nigeria are the defending champion after coming back to beat Morocco 3-2 in the final last year.
Morocco also lost the final of the men’s Africa Cup to Senegal in January.
The ambitious kingdom is also a co-host for the men’s World Cup in 2030.
